U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Larry Bucshon (R-IN) introduced two bills designed to boost COVID-19 diagnostic testing.
Together, the two pieces of legislation would provide $750 million of grants for public health laboratories, hospitals, and other health providers.
“In order to save American lives — and safely reopen the country — we need widespread, rapid, and precise coronavirus testing. However, too many communities still lack capacity and equipment,” DeGette said.
One of the bills is called the Rapid Testing for Communities Act. The bill would set aside half of a billion dollars for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to award to hospitals, primary care facilities, physicians, and other providers of healthcare to purchase “legally-marketed rapid diagnostic testing” equipment. The funding could also be used to obtain the necessary equipment to process the tests. The grant limit is $20,000 for grantees.
The second bill is the Diagnostic Testing for Public Health Labs Act. The legislation would set aside $250,000 million for diagnostic testing purchases for state, local, and tribal health laboratories. DeGette explained that this proposed bill caps grants at $2 million.
The high-throughput diagnostic testing equipment mentioned in the bills can simultaneously test thousands of samples for COVID-19, DeGette explained.