CDC to provide $2.1 billion from American Rescue Plan to strengthen infection preparation

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) intends to invest $2.1 billion to improve infection prevention and control activities at the state, local and territorial levels, and better improve national capabilities to prepare for emerging infectious diseases.

These funds will be pulled from the American Rescue Plan, with $1.25 billion of it provided over the next three years. This will be distributed among 64 state, local and territorial health departments. Initial funds will total $885 million, to be issued in October, with the bulk — $500 million — going toward new state-based nursing home and long-term care strike teams.

As part of this, state and other jurisdictional health departments will help staff train and deploy teams to assist nursing facilities and homes, as well as other long-term care facilities, with known or suspected COVID-19 outbreaks. They will offer surge capacity and counter staffing shortages for these operations, while boosting infection prevention and control activities.

“This funding will dramatically improve the safety and quality of the healthcare delivered in the United States during the pandemic and in the future,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. “Funding will provide significant resources to our public health departments and healthcare systems and opportunities to develop innovative strategies to protect every segment of the U.S. population, especially those disproportionately affected by the pandemic, at a time that they are hit hard.”

Such assistance stands to benefit thousands at some 6,000 hospitals, 15,400 nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, 7,900 dialysis clinics and 4,700 ambulatory surgery centers, along with other outpatient settings.

As to initial funding, the remaining $385 million will also be distributed in October, and go to state, local and territorial health departments to strengthen state capacity to prevent, detect and contain infectious disease threats in healthcare settings; increasing state and regional lab capacity; bolstering Project Firstline efforts to create effective infection prevention and control training and education for frontline healthcare staff; improving data and monitoring at the National Healthcare Safety Network; and supporting state data analyses of antibiotic use, while pursuing programs to improve their prescription.

Funding will also help partners to develop new prevention actions, training, data collection and technical assistance.