The CDC will provide $186 million more in funding to states and local jurisdictions to support COVID-19 tracking and prevention efforts across the nation.
Five things to know:
1. The funding will go to state and local public health departments on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. The new resources will help the departments build testing and surveillance capabilities.
2. States already have surveillance and predictive analytics capabilities underway to rapidly respond to the emerging disease clusters, and the funding will continue to support those efforts to. The data can also support efforts to track laboratory capacity and the need for qualified frontline deployers.
3. The funding will supplement existing cooperative agreements in several states and jurisdictions with the highest number of COVID-19 cases.
4. Funds will also supplement existing cooperative agreements to state jurisdictions through the Emerging Infections program to enhance surveillance activities such as investigating and assessing the burden and severity of COVID-19 and determining risk factors and outcomes. States can also use funds for planning and implementing prevention strategies.
5. States can also use the funds to assess and evaluate healthcare personnel that were exposed to or infected by COVID-19 with the purpose of better identifying risk factors and protective factors for the infection.