Executives Call For More COVID-19 Testing In Meeting With President Trump

Business leaders reportedly said in a meeting of President Donald Trump’s task force on opening the economy that the administration would have to greatly grow the attainability of COVID-19 testing for the public to feel comfortable going back to work, shop in stores or dine out. Possible dates to open the country again were not discussed, while a follow-up meeting wasn’t put on the calendar, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, which is the name for the task force of the president, encompasses over 200 leaders in politics and commerce that have been divvied up into smaller groups dependent upon business verticals.

The individuals who were engaged with the first call indicated that coronavirus testing levels in the U.S. as of now are not sufficient to open the country again effectively. Select leaders indicated they were seeking testing for their own staffers in addition to potential clients.

The call was reportedly the first of four Trump was scheduled to hold today with leaders in commerce.

In a separate report, the latest update to the Brookings-Financial Times Tracking Indexes for the Global Economic Recovery (TIGER) indicates the world is now encountering its most serious challenge since the end of World War II with the coronavirus pandemic. The update pointed out that the world is now experiencing shortages in economic activity, private sector confidence and financial markets. And the worst is still likely to come per the update.

The difference per the TIGER Index is that all of the globe has been impacted. The coronavirus has proven to be an equalizer, which is dissimilar from the 2008-09 collapse, grinding each economy around the globe to a stop and bringing about large structural issues. But the report noted that the economy is slowly building itself back up again in China, where the coronavirus first saw its debilitating effects unfold at the start of the year.