Using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the CDC is awarding $631 million to 64 jurisdictions that federal health officials say could be used to enhance COVID-19 testing and contact-tracing efforts.
Using funding through the CARES Act—a $2 trillion COVID-19 response bill intended to speed relief across the American economy—the money is being awarded via the existing Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases (ELC) cooperative agreement, designed to help U.S. health departments’ ability to combat infectious diseases.
CDC said it will use existing networks to reach out to state and local jurisdictions to access this funding, which may be used for a variety of activities including:
- Establishing or enhancing the ability to aggressively identify cases, conduct contact tracing and follow up, as well as implement appropriate containment measures.
- Improving morbidity and mortality surveillance.
- Enhancing testing capacity.
- Controlling COVID-19 in high-risk settings and protect vulnerable or high-risk populations.
- Working with healthcare systems to manage and monitor system capacity.
“This new funding secured from Congress by President Trump will help public health departments across America continue to battle COVID-19 and expand their capacity for testing, contact tracing, and containment,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “The professionals who staff America’s state, local, tribal, and territorial public health departments have played a vital role in protecting Americans throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, by reporting and analyzing surveillance data, tracing the spread of the virus, and developing scientific guidelines appropriate for local communities…”
CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, M.D., added, “The ability to implement aggressive contact tracing, surveillance and testing will be fundamental to protecting vulnerable populations as the nation takes steps to reopen and Americans begin returning to their daily lives.”
A list of the funding jurisdictions can be seen here.
