South Dakota U.S. Senator John Thune says the response to the coronavirus pandemic needs to be as strong as the problem we’re facing as a nation. He says we should also learn from other countries and be aggressive in getting people back to work.
Senator John Thune says he is staying isolated at his Sioux Falls home, with an occasional visit to his office. His staff is also working from home. Thune says while a vaccine is vital, it could take a year before it’s available. On a call with the national director of infectious diseases, Thune says he encouraged Anthony Fauci to move more quickly.
"Testing on a massive scale to me seems to be a solution short of the vaccine that could at least enable us to get back to some sense of normalcy. So that’s my message to them is let’s gear up testing because the only way we get the economy back on track is get the healthcare crisis addressed. Until we have that vaccine, we have to be able to determine who has it who doesn’t and then the economy can begin to start opening up.”
Thune says he supports free testing on a massive scale. He says getting that data will help people know if they’re sick and also help scientists study the disease. Thune says the U.S. also needs to figure out its supply chain.
“These are critical industries and we need to make sure we’re producing these things close to home so that when crisis hits, we can gear up quickly.”
Senator Thune says the U.S. has to use its brainpower to scale up production of essential healthcare supplies. He says leaders at every level must take the necessary steps to defeat the pandemic crisis. Thune says he isn’t familiar with the data Governor Kristi Noem is using to decide not to declare a statewide stay at home order and non-essential business shutdown.