He specifically referred to South Korea, Germany, New Zealand, and Taiwan.

“These are countries, in particular in the cases of Germany and South Korea, that had enormous outbreaks. They flattened them, they crushed them down, and they did this because they tested so aggressively and they used contact tracing and they were able to quarantine people who were becoming infectious before they actually spread to other people,” Shaman added.

Alexander praised America’s testing as “very impressive,” noting that the country has tested more than 8 million people and has a higher rate of per-capita testing than many other countries.

But he admitted that the current testing is “not enough,” echoing White House Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx’s comments on last month’s “Meet the Press” that America needs a “breakthrough” on testing.

“It’s enough to do what we need to do today to reopen,” he said.

“It’s not enough, for example, when 35,000 kids and faculty show up on the University of Tennessee campus in August. That’s why we need what Dr. Birx called, what Francis Collins is working on, a breakthrough.”

“If you take a test and you know that you don’t have COVID-19, and you know that everybody around you took a test that same day, you’re going to have enough confidence to go back to work and back to school,” he said.

FOOTNOTE:  Ben Kamisar is a political writer for NBC News.Â