The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending additional resources to state and local jurisdictions in support of the nation’s response to COVID-19, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a press release on Thursday.
The CDC is awarding $631 million to 64 jurisdictions across the U.S., using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 through the existing Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases (ELC) cooperative agreement. Nevada is pegged to receive $7.2 million in funding.
“This new funding secured from Congress by President Trump will help public health departments across America continue to battle COVID-19 and expand their capacity for testing, contact tracing, and containment,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “The professionals who staff America’s state, local, tribal, and territorial public health departments have played a vital role in protecting Americans throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, by reporting and analyzing surveillance data, tracing the spread of the virus, and developing scientific guidelines appropriate for local communities. As we look toward re-opening the economy, the work of these dedicated public health officials is only going to get more important, and the Trump Administration and CDC will be working right alongside them to assist.”
Nevada had previously received over $6.5 million from the CDC for its efforts to fight COVID-19.
“This infusion of additional funding into the nation’s public health infrastructure will strengthen our capacity to implement tried and true containment measures,” said CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, M.D. “The ability to implement aggressive contact tracing, surveillance and testing will be fundamental to protecting vulnerable populations as the nation takes steps to reopen and Americans begin returning to their daily lives.”
The CDC funding may be used for things such as establishing or enhancing the ability to identify COVID-19 cases, contact tracing and follow-up and implementing appropriate containment measures. The funds can also be used for improving morbidity and mortality surveillance, improving testing capacity, the protection of vulnerable and high-risk people and controlling COVID-19 and working with health care systems to manage and monitor system capacity.
For more information about COVID-19, please visit CDC’s website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html