It’s Not Too Early to Prepare for the Next Pandemic

One thing is for certain: There will be another pandemic after this one. To do a better job of minimizing its impact on the people and the economy, Congress should start taking steps now to ensure the country is better prepared the next time around. They include: creating an independent, nonpartisan Pandemic Review Commission that will deliver an objective, apolitical assessment of what went right and what went wrong in the response to the Covid-19 outbreak;  supporting the development of a global early-warning system; establishing fair, rigorous screening protocols informed by science to delay the entry of a contagion into the U.S.; building a massive testing capability and a much stronger public health infrastructure at the state and local levels; creating a surge capacity to care for victims and protect health care workers; building an information system that will enable the country to deploy these surge resources to where they’re needed; and making affordable, quality health insurance available to all.