In a recent opinion piece appearing in Politico’s The Agenda, Yale economists Steven Berry and Zack Cooper argue that the best way to save the U.S. economy is to stop the pandemic itself. Their analysis suggests that Congress is seriously underfunding efforts to directly combat COVID-19:
“By our calculations, less than 8 percent of the trillions in funding that Congress has allocated so far in response to the virus has been for solutions that would shorten or mitigate the virus itself: measures like increasing the supply of PPE, expanding testing, developing treatments, standing up contract tracing, or developing a vaccine. A case in point is the most recent House Covid-19 package. It calls for $3 trillion in spending; less than 3 percent of that total is allocated toward Covid testing. As Congress considers next steps, it’s imperative to shift priorities and direct more funding and effort toward actually ending the pandemic.”