Zack Cooper on CBS Radio: The Social Value of COVID Testing
In an interview on CBS Radio, health economist Zack Cooper exhorts the value of everyone getting tested for Covid-19 for the economy to successfully re-open. He breaks down two essential aspects of getting the economy moving after it has suffered “devastating economic carnage” from the lockdowns.
1) The social value of testing. Make widespread COVID testing available – up to 3 million people a week - using a mix of different testing modalities to get the risk level down, so citizens feel comfortable out and about again; and
2) The problem of production. Tackle the problem of mass-producing the tests, making it worthwhile for companies to sink large amounts of revenue into manufacturing them. Cooper says that this would require massive federal investment “to spend more than we ever thought we would six months ago. “
Cooper also points out that the trillions of dollars the federal government has spent so far for bailing out the economy would have better spent ramping up the scale of investment in funding the pandemic’s cause and treatment.