Former FDA Commissioners Recommend Expanding Public Health System to Restart Economy After Outbreak

As reported by Politico Pulse:

“The two former [Food and Drug Administration] FDA commissioners, both with bipartisan credibility, are working with lawmakers on a framework to gradually restart the economy – as long as the country builds an ample testing and disease surveillance system to rapidly diagnose coronavirus, isolate infected people and effectively quarantine their close contacts, POLITICO’s David Lim reports.

McClellan and Gottlieb foresee a need for a vast expansion of the United States’ public health system that would require hiring and training thousands of new workers to bolster coronavirus surveillance. Their paper, exclusively obtained by POLITCO, also cautions that antibody testing is not a panacea to determine if individuals can return to the workplace; scientists need to learn more about the virus – and how much immunity people have once they’ve been infected.”