The U.S. must increase its testing capabilities for the new coronavirus before the economy can restart, Dr. Robert Bollinger of Johns Hopkins University told CNBC on Tuesday.
Specifically, the U.S. needs more rapid testing and a better system of contact tracing to determine who has been infected by COVID-19 and who has not, Bollinger said on “Power Lunch.”
Improvement in those areas, along with existing social distancing efforts, will “truly allow us to move the economy forward, get back to work,” said Bollinger, an infectious diseases professor at Johns Hopkins’ medical school.
Bollinger said the U.S. has begun to make progress on contact tracing, pointing to an initiative announced Tuesday by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan that focuses on using the strategy to limit spread in the state’s nursing homes.
Bollinger also noted new efforts in Massachusetts launched by Gov. Charlie Baker. The state is partnering with a Boston-based nonprofit, Partners in Health, to hire around 1,000…
