Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would provide $186 million to state and local jurisdictions for COVID-19 support.
“Testing and surveillance is a vital piece of our efforts to beat the coronavirus, and this new funding will expand our ability to track and prevent the virus’s spread across the country,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said. “State and local public health departments are on the frontlines of our fight against the pandemic, and these new resources will help them build the testing and surveillance capabilities needed to beat the new threat we face.”
The effort includes supplementing an existing cooperative agreement to a number of states and local jurisdictions identified as having the highest number of reported COVID-19 cases, as well as jurisdictions with accelerating or rapidly accelerating COVID-19 cases.
The funding allotment would also aid activities such as lab equipment purchases, supplies, staffing, shipping, infection control, surge staffing, monitoring of individuals, and data management.
“Increasing the capacity of our nation’s public health infrastructure is critical to stopping the spread of COVID-19 in communities across this country,” CDC Director Robert R. Redfield said. “These funds will augment core public health capabilities including surveillance and predictive analytics, laboratory capacity, qualified frontline deployers, and the ability to rapidly respond to emerging disease clusters in communities that currently have limited person to person spread of the virus.”