The worst pandemic in a century upon us all. Now it falls on us to defeat it. Here at home a strange and unsettling hush has fallen over the country as businesses close and millions of americans brace for whats to come. In new york, seattle, new orleans, and elsewhere preparation for the virus has ended. The virus has arrived in force. The urgent battle to suppress it has begun. In Emergency Rooms and i. C. U. s courageous doctors and nurses are locked in a battle to save the lives of their patients. Protective gear is in short supply, but their regard for safety and even family comes second to their duty. The days ahead will be a closerun thing in those cities as they struggle to keep their hospitals open and functioning. But make no mistake, the china virus will spare none of us. The from the high rises of the big cities to the hills of the ozarks. Soon the senate will finally pass desperately needed emergency legislation for our nation, including a massive infusion of funds to our health care system. But this legislation isnt about stimulus. Its about survival. With this legislation behind us, americans are beginning to ask, whats next . Yes, the virus is testing us already and it has already touched most of us by closing our churches, shuttering our businesses and threatening the jobs and Retirement Savings of millions of americans and, of course, threatening our lives. Its only natural that so many are wondering anxiously when and how this unprecedented crisis will end and when it ends will their jobs still be there . How will they put food on the table . How will they pay the bills . Americans want to know the plan so they can do their part. More fundamentally they want to know that there is a plan. Combined with worry about the future naturally breeds frustration. We are citizens, after all, not merely passive carriers of a deadly pathogen. This frustration has given rise to a new and growing argument that americans cant wait any longer that we ought to open back up and take our chances with this virus. After all, we cant stay inside for every. Forever. We cant, as the saying goes, let the cure be worse than the disease. The emergency to stave off economic collapse is, of course, understandable. And its tempting to think that we face a simple choice between shutting down to fight the virus and opening up to save the economy. But a choice is not so simple. Some thoughtful observers note that the seasonal flu, an automobile and automobile accidents kill more americans annually than has this virus. Thats true as far as it goes. But were just at the beginning of this pandemic. And i have to add the Javits Center in new york city has never been converted into a Field Hospital for the flu and car wrecks. Granting that, some say, perhaps we can reopen in a few days since our elderly are most at risk from this virus. Quarantine them. Keep them safe, the argument goes while the rest of us get back to work. But there are 72 million americans over the age of 60 in this country. Many of them raise children, live alone, or work outside the home. They cant wall themselves off from the world, nor should we wall them in. Moreover, tens of millions of younger americans have preexisting conditions that put them at elevated risk from this virus. Are we to quarantine all of them, too . Because even younger and healthier americans are not safe from this pandemic. The china virus attacks the lungs of the young and the old alike. Of the cases we know about, the virus appears to send about one in seven younger people to the hospital. Its true that survival rates for younger patients are better, but even their recovery depends on a functioning health care system. If we give up on our efforts to control this virus now, our medical system will be overwhelmed. Hospitals will collapse. Care will be rationed. Doctors will face the terrible choice of whom to save and whom to let perish. And not just for patients of this virus, for every american who needs intensive care, whether from heart attack or stroke or car wreck or anything else. Besides if left unchecked, this deadly virus will continue to wreck our economy as surely as it has already. It wasnt President Trump who shut down businesses, after all. And it really wasnt even governors and mayors, though they issued the orders. Governmentenforced closures were largely a rear guard action by communities who add already ground to a halt due to the virus or that soon would have come to a wrenching stop in the teeth of the pandemic. Who among us would take our kids to a restaurant tomorrow if we opened back up . Our economy isnt seized up because of government dictates but rather because our people are understandably fearful of a dangerous virus. So an immediate reopening without the resources in place to fight the virus isnt an option. Our hospitals would be overwhelmed. Our brave doctors and nurses would succumb to the illness. Our businesses would keep their doors closed or would quickly close their doors again as workers and customers stayed away. The supposed choice between saving the economy and fighting the virus turns out not to be much of a choice at all. We cant yet stop the strong measures that are in place because we have no better option in the short run. But neither can we continue them forever. The American People can only hold out for so long. So we must come up with a better plan and fast. That plan starts with this big pause as we protect ourselves and each other. We simply dont have the resources today to fight any other way, but it will end with this approach. We must use the precious days and weeks ahead to lay the groundwork for a new strategy to fight the virus, a strategy that will allow all of us to gradually get back to work. For that to happen well need to scale up our ability to rapidly test for the virus as they have in south korea. So we have a sense of where the virus is and where we must keep it contained. Already americas public laboratories and companies are rising to the challenge processing tens of thousands of tests. But our ability to test must grow even faster and it is. Well need masks, too, millions of them. And well need local personnel trained and prepared to do widespread Contact Tracing for those who test positive. Well have to develop procedures for strict quarantines of those who test possible or those who have been exposed to the virus with zero tolerance for breaking quarantine and endangering our fellow citizens. Once these elements are in place and the first wave of this virus is passed, then well be prepared to reopen our cities and communities while remaining vigilant but new outbreaks. These preparations will ensure were ready to sustain our way of life until our scientists can create what we so das separately need we so desperately need, therapeutic drugs and ultimately a vaccine. A vaccine may take a year or more before its available, but these other intermediate precautions must go into effect much, much faster. America must indeed reopen. When we do, these decisions must be based on local conditions, not an arbitrary nationwide timeline. Our governors and mayors understand their local conditions. They can make gradual rolling, calibrated decisions in a way that is responsible when the tools to effectively fight this virus are ready and available. What ive outlined may seem like a daunting, even an impossible challenge, but our nation has overcome far greater challenges before. Already america is rising to take on the china virus. The giant of american industry is wakening, retooling our factories to join this fight just as we did during world war ii. Never bet against americas workers and american ingenuity. And all across this country americans are springing into action. We know the vital role our doctors and nurses will play in the coming months alongside our first responders, our factory workers and farmers, our grocers and on down the list. Ask yourself now how can you help. Can you keep your distance from those most at risk realizing that the china virus preys on our most earnest desires, for society and companionship. Can you offer a charity for a friend in need . Can you pick up groceries for your elderly neighbor . Can you keep your workers on payroll an benefits just a little longer until our legislation kicks in . Can you postpone your tenants rent for a month . Can you pray for deliverance of our nation and the world . These are just a few of the things we must do as a country to make reopening possible and life bearable in the months ahead. Were all in this together so well need to have each others best interests at heart. Many years of comfort and ease have perhaps conditioned us to ask only what were free to do, not what were called to do. The old disopinions of peril and privation threaten to return. Well need old notions of duty to maintain order in the face of them. The darkest days of this crisis are in all likelihood still ahead of us. Let us face up to them bravely. Let us acknowledge the troubles ahead and let us devote our whole energy to winning this battle quickly so that the normal life of our nation can resume. Mr. President , i yield the. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , during times of disaster, crisis or hardship, i am i never failed to be inspierped by the inspired by the generosity of americans, including folks in my home state of texas. I think about how we came together in the wake of hurricane harvey, to lead search and rescue operations, clear debris, and rebuild communities and lives. We saw strangers forming human chains to rescue a driver