We can’t stop coronavirus without widespread testing. But we can’t test widely without boosting the production of test materials, ramping up the supply of protective gear needed to conduct tests, and increasing the number of medical workers testing people in the first place.
Diagnostic tests, personal protective equipment, & medical workers are intricately connected. Our comprehensive federal response must recognize how these pieces of the coronavirus puzzle fit together. I’ve outlined a series of proposals that do just that. medium.com/@SenWarren/con…
We need a federally-funded surge in the production of diagnostic tests to ramp up our capacity & minimize supply disruptions. The best tool we have to boost production at scale is the DPA, a tool that President Trump has repeatedly waffled on. Congress must force him to.
The Defense Production Act can also help us boost production of the masks, gowns, and other protective equipment that medical workers need to conduct tests in the first place. Without gear, we can’t safely test. The federal government must increase the production of PPE, too.
Testing at scale will require a massive public health workforce, which is why the federal government should also fund the training of more workers, at all levels, to set up testing sites across the country and determine how many people have, or have had, coronavirus.
Finally, we can’t learn from widespread testing if we don’t track who we’ve tested and when we’ve tested them. @HHSGov must collect more data on our testing capacity and results so state and local officials know where and how to distribute resources to combat COVID-19.
