Sen. Alexander: Staying at home indefinitely is not the solution to this pandemic
Senate Health Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Alexander opens the hearing on reopening the country by calling for more testing to get Americans back to work.
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The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s hearing dealing with the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic and measures toward reopening kicked off with Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., making clear that he believes stay-at-home orders cannot be a long-term plan.
Before questions began for witnesses, a list that included Dr. Anthony Fauci, Alexander delivered an opening statement in which he called for an increase in testing so that people can get back to work, claiming that waiting too long for states to reopen is not a viable option.
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“Staying at home indefinitely is not the solution to this pandemic,” Alexander said. “There is not enough money available to help all those hurt by a closed economy.”
Alexander then laid out what he believes are the key factors in allowing Americans to go back to work while feeling secure that the pandemic is being handled properly.
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“All roads back to work, back to school lead through testing, tracking, isolation, treatment, vaccines,” he said. “This requires widespread testing. Millions more tests created mostly by new technologies to identify those who are sick and who have been exposed so they can be quarantined, and by containing the disease in this way give the rest of America enough confidence to go back to work and school.”
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Several states have already begun gradually reopening their economies to varying extents. States such as Georgia and Oklahoma have moved forward rapidly, while hard-hit New York is allowing certain activities to resume later this week, and only allowing areas in the state to truly reopen when they complete a list of statistical goals related to declining case numbers, hospital capacity and testing capability.
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