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- The report says at least 5 million tests per day will need to be given by early June.
- That number will need to rise to 20 million per day by the middle of the summer.
- Roughly 150,000 tests are being administered daily in the United States.
A bipartisan group of experts from across the country released a comprehensive roadmap for reopening the United States economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, estimating 20 million tests per day will be needed by midsummer to fully “re-mobilize the economy” and keep it open.
A report titled “Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience,” released Monday morning by Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics lays out how a massive increase in testing, along with contact tracing and supported isolation, can rebuild trust in personal safety and open the economy.
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“This is the first plan to show operationally how we can scale up COVID-19 testing sufficiently to safely reopen the economy — while safeguarding fundamental American democratic principles of protecting civil rights and liberties,” Danielle Allen, director of Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, said in a statement.
The report’s top recommendations include the necessity to administer at least 5 million tests per day by early June to help ensure a safe social opening. The number will need to increase to 20 million per day by midsummer. The report acknowledged that this number of testing may not even be high enough.
The report says ending quarantine safely will require testing, contact tracing and supported isolation. Researchers say this approach will prevent cycles of opening and shutting down.
The U.S. is testing roughly 150,000 people on average daily, a rate that some health experts say is too low for the country to ease social distancing restrictions. Health officials have also said that a more comprehensive contact-tracing program needs to be in place before states begin reopening nonessential businesses.
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President Trump on Sunday announced he will use the Defense Production Act to increase the production of badly needed swabs for testing. Trump said he would use the law to direct a company to increase swab production by more than 20 million swabs per month. Swabs are among the key testing supplies that governors and health experts have been clamoring for weeks for the Trump administration to increase.
Some states have said a shortage of testing kits has continued to be a big problem. Maryland. Gov Larry Hogan (R) said Sunday it was “absolutely false” to suggest the U.S. coronavirus testing capacity is at a level to safely begin reopening portions of the economy, disputing claims made by Trump a day prior.
Frustrated by the lack of tests, Hogan negotiated with suppliers in South Korea to obtain 500,000 kits, according to The New York Times.
Trump on Saturday said the nation’s testing capability and capacity is “fully sufficient to begin opening up the country totally.”
Trump has been eager to reopen the economy even as health officials have warned that doing so too quickly could result in a second wave of infections. Protests have also erupted around the country against stay-at-home orders.
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