WASHINGTON _ Allies of President Donald Trump and industry experts are telling the White House it will take robust coronavirus testing that is not currently available to most Americans for the country to reopen safely.
Personal protective equipment that meets government standards, specifically masks, would also need to be more prevalent so that workers and consumers are shielded from people carrying the virus but showing no symptoms until a vaccine is ready for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, several sources close to the president and industry insiders told McClatchy.
Businesses are also asking for stronger assurances from the government that they will be compensated in the event of a slow recovery � or if the virus resurges and they have to close up shop again � and they will not be held liable if an outbreak occurs at one of their properties.
Trump is eager to see social distancing restrictions that are cratering the U.S. economy lifted, and says that some states will be able to do so by May 1 � a date that is seen as unachievable by a range of public policy advocates, medical professionals and nationally recognized trade groups.
"It would require a miracle," said Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. "I don't think we have the capacity right now."
A faith leader who speaks to the White House regularly and has provided advice on this issue, Rodriguez, senior pastor of New Season Christian Worship Center in Sacramento, said self-isolation cannot become the new normal.
At the same time, he said, "We can't just restart the economy without increased testing. That will be irresponsible."
Trump said at a Tuesday news conference that he was taking instruction from pastors, retailers, manufacturers and a host of other CEOs, and that he would soon be sharing a plan for reopening the country.
He said that 29 states are in "very, very good shape," and he would be "authorizing" individual governors to bring people back to work. Trump did not say which states he was referring to or how many he believed could reopen by May. The White House provided no additional details.
The president has said very little about what his reopening plan will include, although he hinted at a recommendation that states test everyone coming and going at their borders. If that were to happen, he said the federal government would provide the supplies they need if they are unable to acquire testing equipment on their own.
He also said companies could do weekly testing of their employees or require temperature checks to track possible infections.
High fever is one of the symptoms of the contagious coronavirus that has infected at least 605,000 people in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University. As of Tuesday, more than 25,000 who contracted the disease had died, its data showed.
Rapid testing would need to be available in some capacity for businesses, schools, retailers, churches, nursing homes and other venues for them to be comfortable resuming their activities, industry leaders told McClatchy.
"Testing is mandatory," said David Kessler, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner to two presidents. "The more we test, the more we can isolate those who are transmitting this virus, we will be able to reduce the risk. It is essential to opening up this country. It is not elective."
Major trade associations in frequent communication with the White House, including those representing the devastated travel, restaurant and hotel industries, have also conveyed their concerns to administration officials that a hasty opening could stifle demand for their services, having the unintended effect of protracting the economic pain.
Tori Emerson Barnes, executive vice president of public affairs and policy at the U.S. Travel Association, said that state and federal guidance for reopening would have to find a balance between shortening the recovery time for businesses while also providing consumers with the confidence that doing so will be safe.
"We are talking to the administration in that process," Barnes said. "I do know that there are some really smart folks in the White House that are thinking through these things and are reaching out for collaboration and guidance on what industry needs."
Staff under Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, has been examining proposals of model guidance from industry insiders outlining what a strong opening would look like from a business perspective.
But the worst-affected industries have several concerns.
Testing remains elusive in many parts of the country, and the lack of a single standard for reopening states for business � or for closing them in the first place � may contribute to public confusion or, worse, a longer outbreak.
Businesses are also telling the White House that their focus has to be split between recovery and relief, warning that a $2 trillion stimulus package enacted by Congress last month was both flawed and insufficient.
"You can focus on reopening the country, but you need to make sure that businesses are there to reopen," said Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs at the National Restaurant Association. "If they reopen, and you have excessive social distancing, and you have inadequate government support, a lot of them are going to have to close."
That stimulus package, known as the CARES Act, is set to run out of money for Small Business Administration loans by the end of this week.
But even if Democrats and Republicans, squabbling over conditions on additional funding, agree to refill the fund, industry lobbyists say that the structure of the loan program needs a significant overhaul to reflect the unprecedented scope of the crisis.
While the Paycheck Protection Program provides businesses with loans up to 2.5 times their monthly payroll, groups are asking for far more � up to eight times payroll � and an extension on the amount of time they are given to use the loan money, currently expiring June 30.
A commission put together by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, is also compiling a list of formal recommendations. Heritage President Kay James, who is on Trump's reopening council, will then take those to the White House.
The organization's director of economic policy studies, Paul Winfree, told McClatchy that he has advised the White House that businesses are concerned about litigation if one of their employees unknowingly spreads the virus.
"Even if there is sort of a dictate from on high that we're going to open up at a certain time, businesses are worried about being found liable should there be an outbreak at some point in the future," he said.
Winfree said it is an issue that states will have to solve, in coordination with each other and with the federal government. And even if liability insurance did include provisions specific to the pandemic, he said, testing their employees and following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on personal protective equipment would require resources they do not currently have.
At home or easily obtainable local testing would have to be available, said Winfree, who served as deputy director of Trump's White House Domestic Policy Council at the start of the administration. Otherwise the concern is that consumers will be too scared to engage in regular activity, he said.
A Health and Human Services spokesperson, in a statement to McClatchy, said that the FDA had not authorized any test that is available to purchase for at home testing and "a COVID-19 vaccine likely will not be widely available to the public until sometime in 2021."
The statement said that CDC and other health labs had tested more than 2.54 million samples for COVID-19 to date.
Kessler, former FDA commissioner to Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, said that vastly improved testing, contact tracing and masks are a minimum requirement for ending the quarantine. He said day-to-day contact would need to be reduced dramatically until a vaccine is available.
"We're going to be in this for the duration until there's a vaccine, right, so let's start thinking about protective equipment that works for everybody," he said.
Rodriguez, the Sacramento pastor who is part of Trump's faith initiative and also sits on Heritage's commission. He said he has counseled the White House to consider the physical, economic and spiritual health of the nation, citing restrictions on religious gatherings in states like Kansas and Kentucky that faith groups say are an infringement on congregants' civil liberties.
He also said he has advocated for a progressive model that would see businesses and entities like churches in regions where the virus is abating open up at 25% capacity for the first two weeks. Then another 25% increase or more every two weeks could take place, if scientific data shows the virus is not resurging rapidly, he said.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten told McClatchy that antibody testing, fever testing, surgical masks for teachers and students and spaced out seating arrangements could all be part of an arrangement to get schools back up and running until a COVID-19 vaccine is available.
Weingarten said AFT, which endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president last month, has written letters to HHS and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos asking for additional guidance for educators.
"We are being challenged by this invisible enemy, who is challenging the entire country. It's not like this is an epidemic in New York, but not in Kansas," she said. "It's a national epidemic. The national government has far more responsibility for what we are doing about this than they're taking."
