There is “no time to lose” in defeating the coronavirus and preparing for America’s post-pandemic economy, say two former FDA commissioners in a report on Tuesday.

But it will take a huge and expensive effort.

The economy can be gradually re-started, write Mark McClellan and Scott Gottlieb, but only after the country “builds an ample testing and disease surveillance system to rapidly diagnose coronavirus, isolate infected people and effectively quarantine their close contacts,” says Politico.

Today we published a detailed blueprint for how the U.S. can build a robust surveillance and case-based system to reduce the risk of future #COVID19 outbreaks. We outline the elements of effective surveillance, testing, and track and trace interventions https://t.co/eTgrKer7ga

— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) April 7, 2020

Gottlieb, an MD and President Trump’s first FDA chief, told the political website that he’s been talking with “a bipartisan group of legislators about crafting legislation to put such a surveillance system in place.”

He developed the plan with McClellan, who served in the George W. Bush administration. Other experts contributed to the report.

Their paper, issued by Duke University’s Margolis Center for Health Policy and obtained by Politico, also cautions that “antibody testing is not a panacea to determine if individuals can return to the workplace; scientists need to learn more about the virus — and how much immunity people have once they’ve been infected.”

In an interview, “Gottlieb suggested one high-end surveillance approach would be to test everyone who visits a doctor — about 3.8 million people a week. So far the U.S. has conducted nearly 2 million tests,” Politico says.

The authors didn’t lay out a timetable, but called for quick action from Congress, which would have to appropriate funds for such an ambitious virus-control effort.