Important: a picture of the next phase comes from Dr. Robert Redfield, of CDC, who tells @NPR what it would take for Americans to begin to return to something like normal life before a vaccine is available. Details follow. @NPR @MorningEdition @UpFirst

Redfield tells @robsteinnews the key is ramped up testing and “very aggressive” contact tracing of those who test positive. This will take a kind of CDC army. “We are going to need a substantial expansion of public health field workers. And it is going to be critical.“ @NPR

Redfield said it is “premature” to specify who would be doing this work or how many would be needed, but said the US would have to “substantially amplify” the 600 CDC workers now in the field. @NPR

Redfield says there may be “tech-savvy” ways to trace all of the contacts of an infected person. “We can't afford to have multiple community outbreaks that can spiral up... so it is going to be very aggressive, what I call block and tackle, block and tackle.” @NPR

Colleague @robsteinnews says public health experts talk of employing “disease detectives,” or a “kind of civilian corps of disease SWAT teams,” who can use cell phone data to trace contacts. Redfield’s remarks, while not specific, suggest the CDC wants to move in that direction.

His remarks start to answer a giant question. Cases are peaking in some states. In another month or two, cases may have declined. But how do we return to semi-normal? The virus will still lurk with no vaccine. A big answer: mass testing, contact tracing, quarantines. @NPR

Here’s more on the @NPR talk with Redfield: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/10/831200054/cdc-director-very-aggressive-contact-tracing-needed-for-u-s-to-return-to-normal