What the Pandemic Testing Board is:
To recover from our current crisis and prevent repeating the devastation witnessed in the last months, we need a Pandemic Testing Board–a national effort across government, academia, business, and labor that would manage comprehensive
COVID-19 testing, tracing, and isolation support. Initially proposed by a Harvard University study in April, a Pandemic Testing Board would provide the coordination needed to effectively mobilize all our country’s resources and test at full
capacity. We at Isolating Together further emphasize that the Pandemic Testing Board must prioritize disproportionately impacted communities and include policies aligned with The
Movement for Black Lives National Demands for COVID-19.
What it would accomplish:
The advantages of a Pandemic Testing Board are clear. It would
- Allow us to increase testing from 5 million/week to 30 million/week
- Provide more tests at lower costs and with faster result times (current multi-day lags in results render tests essentially useless in terms of managing the spread of the virus)
- Reopen the economy without sacrificing lives
- Create thousands of testing and tracing jobs
- Ensure people who test positive receive living accommodations and financial assistance to cover lost wages.
How it would be formed:
(1)The president establishes the board through the Defense Powers Act and selects its members.
(2) Through the Compacts Clause of the U.S. constitution, Congress facilitates board formation by approval and funding of interstate compacts, agreements between states to take collective action procuring and distributing resources.
Board
advisors would be selected by lead states and additional funding would be supplied by congressional appropriation.