$35 Million in COVID-19 Response Funding From HHS Announced

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced upcoming action to provide initial resources to a limited number of US jurisdictions in support of our nation’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

In a press statement published on March 4, 2020, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said: “State and local governments are the backbones of our public health system.” 

“They have been essential partners in the ongoing work to contain and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 disease in the USA.”

Using funds provided to the CDC through the HHS Secretary's Transfer, the CDC will take the following actions:

• Award an initial $25 million cooperative agreement to the states and local jurisdictions who have borne the largest burden of response and preparedness activities to date. This is an initial award for those jurisdictions who require immediate assistance for activities such as monitoring of travelers, data management, lab equipment, supplies, staffing, shipping, infection control, and surge staffing. Once supplemental funding is provided, support will be provided to all states and local jurisdictions for a variety of critical public health activities.
• Award an initial $10 million cooperative agreement to state and local jurisdictions to begin implementation of coronavirus surveillance across the U.S., building on existing influenza activities and other surveillance systems. This initial award is for a limited number of jurisdictions. Once supplemental funding is provided, additional support will be provided to all states and local jurisdictions to enhancing testing and surveillance.

“The CDC is committed to working with state, local, tribal and territorial public health departments to mitigate community spread of novel coronavirus in this nation,” said CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, M.D., in this press statement.

“Our partners are on the front lines of this response and we support their efforts to increase needed public health capacity to confront the challenges this virus presents.”

The CDC says ‘it will use existing networks to reach out to state and local jurisdictions to access this initial funding.’

SARS-CoV-2 outbreak news published by Coronavirus Today.