Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said “strong” coronavirus testing is needed before President Donald Trump’s plan for reopening the economy can be put in place.
Schumer made his comments during a Friday interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“The plan is a little more measured than what the president said in the past, which is good but there’s a key thing missing in all this,” Schumer said.
“If we don’t have a strong, adequate testing regime, we’re going to have real trouble. You have to know who has the illness, who’s immune from the illness and who could get the illness before we can determine who can go back to work and who can’t.
“And that’s why we senate Democrats have proposed a $30 billion plan to have an immediate regime on testing.”
He added: “Each state can’t come up with its own test. Many of the states are inadequate to come up with their own tests. We need a national program distributed to the local governments.”
Trump on Thursday outlined “a phased and deliberate approach” to restoring normal activity in places that have strong testing and are seeing a decrease on coronavirus cases.
The new guidelines address easing restrictions in areas with low transmissions of the virus, while holding the line in hard hit areas.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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