Pence says what's needed to reopen the country
At the coronavirus task force press briefing on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence described the criteria that must be met for the U.S. to roll back stay-at-home orders and reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Video Transcript
MIKE PENCE: How about one more?
- But do we have--
MIKE PENCE: One more. Go right ahead.
- --enough testing-- do we have testing capacity in the country right now to reopen in the foreseeable future? I mean, because the president talked about 2 million tests. Are we going to have the testing capacity needed to make Americans feel comfortable going back into their workplaces? I mean, it seems to me that is a pretty critical question at this point. People are not going to want to go back to work if they think their coworkers might be carrying the virus. If we're not testing enough, how do we know it's safe to go back?
MIKE PENCE: Well, I think the American people see the incredible progress that's been made after President Trump brought in the largest commercial labs in the world to scale testing the likes of which we've seen. We are, as Dr. Birx said, well over 100,000 Americans being tested every single day. We have an antibody test that is coming online. Abbott Laboratories literally has thousands of machines across the country. We're working with hospitals and labs around the country to activate those machines for the 15-minute test. And--
- Do we have enough testing right now?
MIKE PENCE: Well, let me-- let me say, we're moving every day toward meeting that moment. But let's be clear. Reopening the country, as the president is very anxious to do at the earliest responsible moment, will be through a combination of facts.
First would be that we are at the end of the coronavirus for most major communities. Another piece of that is that we have therapeutics for Americans to take medicines if they contract the disease. Another piece of that is guidance from the CDC to public institutions, to businesses large and small about how to conduct themselves in a safe and a responsible way.
And testing is also a piece of that. And as Admiral Giroir has reflected, we are spending a great deal of time expanding testing today. Every single day there's more and more tests across the country. But we're also working to scale testing that, as we move into the summer and move into the fall, we'll have the testing we need to do what these doctors call not diagnostic testing, which is to take a test of a person that has symptoms, but surveillance testing so we can identify people that may have had it and may be immune versus people-- also people that we just need to know whether or not they were ever exposed or were not exposed.
How about one more quick question here if I can?