The Heritage Foundation announced the creation of the National Coronavirus Recovery Commission this week to provide the American people and policymakers with recommendations on the steps needed to move prudently toward recovery.
The commission includes top experts and thinkers from government, public health, disaster response and relief, academia and education, business, and the faith community. The list of commissioners is available at CoronavirusCommission.com.
The five-phase plan agreed to by the National Coronavirus Recovery Commission recommends:
- Return to a more normal level of business activity at the regional level based on scientific data. This would be done only after stabilizing the health care system, establishing enhanced testing, reporting, and contact tracing, and continuing to follow CDC guidelines on mitigation.
- At the same time, additional policies should be pursued to help workers, businesses, and medical professionals mitigate the economic consequences of the epidemic.
- Slow the spread of the coronavirus while expanding testing, reporting, and contact tracing. Follow CDC guidance on social distancing and other mitigation efforts until new cases begin to decline for at least 14 days. Increase diagnostic testing for COVID-19 and immunity. Also, resources should be made available to regional public health departments to undertake and expand testing, reporting, and contact tracing of those possibly in contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases.
- Continue to build the science. Increase the availability and rapidity of new diagnostic tests, while supporting the acceleration and introduction of proven therapeutics and vaccines.
- Establish U.S. leadership in leading the free world in economic recovery. Implement risk-informed measures to reestablish international travel while limiting the threat of reinfection. Partner with key strategic allies, including Western Europe and the Indo-Pacific, empowering economic freedom and partnerships in free markets among free people.
- Reduce future risks of pandemics. Invest in national and state stockpiles, reform supply chains, develop strategies to adjust resource capacity to meet the demands of crises, develop the supply of antiviral agents, seek to develop vaccines for coronaviruses, as well as invest in an international biosurveillance network to detect and contain emerging infectious diseases through coordination and cooperation.
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