Moulton: More Testing Needed to Gauge Spread of Coronavirus

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, on Thursday called for more COVID-19 testing and touted a tiered system developed for his staff to determine how to work with constituents and when to work remotely.

"The bottom line is people don't know what to do and we have received guidance from the CDC about washing your hands and maintaining social distances, but what does that mean in terms of the daily operation of schools and businesses and other institutions throughout America?" Moulton said in a press conference from his Washington, D.C., office that was livestreamed on Facebook. "We are trying to provide some guidance on that by setting the example here in my congressional office."

Moulton, who planned to hold a call Thursday evening with superintendents, said it would be "tough" to shut down schools."

"All else being equal, schools should shut down," Moulton said, "but a lot of kids don't have a place to go if they are not at school."

If a case is detected in a school, Moulton said the school should immediately be shut down and cleaned. He figured there would be more cases detected over the next few weeks until the numbers peak and start to decline.

He also called for more coronavirus testing. To highlight the lack of testing in the United States, he said South Korea has conducted 2,700 tests for every million South Koreans. But in America, he said, five tests have been conducted for every million Americans.

"In America, we truly don't know," Moulton said. He suggested the United States set up drive-thru testing centers, similar to those in South Korea, so people can safely get tested and officials can better monitor the extent of the spread.

As for what Congress can do to speed up testing, Moulton said he sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, who is heading up the nation's coronavirus response, almost two weeks ago calling for more testing.

"This is the bottom line, we need to be testing, and the administration missed several opportunities to provide more tests," Moulton said.

Moulton said while other congressional offices have shut down, his won't, but it won't be business as usual.

Moulton said his office has been trying to set a standard on its response to the crisis by developing response levels to provide guidance on travel, meetings and events to others. He is also providing coronavirus updates at moulton.house.gov.

His office stands at "Response Level II," which means more than half his staff is working at home, and meetings are taking place by phone or video, but the work continues. Moving to Response Level III would shut down his office to staff and the public, and staff would be required to work from home.

"We have gotten tremendous response from mayors and local officials in the district I spoke to last night," he said Thursday, "who are looking at this as a model as they try to manage their response in their towns."

Because many of those who attend his town halls are seniors who may be at risk of becoming severely ill, upcoming constituent town halls in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Burlington and Swampscott will instead be held virtually.

The Monday, March 16, 6 p.m. town hall at Manchester Essex Regional High will become a Facebook Live Town Hall at 6 p.m.

Town halls at Burlington High and the Swampscott Senior Center on Saturday, March 21, will be combined into one Facebook Live Town Hall at 11 a.m. The town halls can be viewed at Facebook.com/RepMoulton.