On Wednesday, May 13, 2020, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, chaired by Rep. James E. Clyburn, will hold its first briefing with a bipartisan group of key experts on the requirements for safely reopening our nation during the coronavirus pandemic.

The panelists participating in Wednesday’s briefing have put forward plans to guide federal and state efforts to safely reopen the country, including the AEI Plan, the Hopkins Plan, the Harvard Plan, and the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy Plan.

Public health experts agree that the only way to safely reopen before a vaccine or significantly improved treatment becomes widely available is, in the words of a Harvard Safra Center report, “massive scale testing, tracing, and supported isolation.”

Last month, the Trump Administration released a “Blueprint for Testing Plans and Rapid Response Programs,” but the document failed to include numeric testing goals or a nationwide strategy.  President Trump continues to claim there are enough tests for everyone who needs one, but governors, public health experts, and first responders disagree.  

Congress and the American people need to hear directly from experts to get the ground truth and determine specific steps we need to take to develop a coordinated and comprehensive testing, tracing, and supported isolation plan to reopen the country.