Coronavirus Containment Corps Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 188 To create a Coronavirus Containment Corps. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 3, 2021 Ms. WARREN (for herself, Ms. SMITH, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. MARKEY) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To create a Coronavirus Containment Corps. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; DEFINITIONS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Coronavirus Containment Corps Act’’. 5 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 6 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 7 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 8 mittees’’ means— 9 (A) the Committee on Energy and Com- 10 merce of the House of Representatives; 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 188 IS (B) the Committee on Education and 1 Labor of the House of Representatives; and 2 (C) the Committee on Health, Education, 3 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 4 (2) COVID–19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.— 5 The term ‘‘COVID–19 public health emergency’’ 6 means— 7 (A) the public health emergency declared 8 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services 9 pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health 10 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 11 2020, as a result of confirmed cases of 2019 12 Novel Coronavirus (2019–nCoV) and any suc- 13 cessor to such declaration; or 14 (B) the national emergency declared by the 15 President under the National Emergencies Act 16 (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) on March 13, 2020, 17 as a result of confirmed cases of 2019 Novel 18 Coronavirus (2019–nCoV). 19 (3) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 20 shall have the meaning given such term in the In- 21 dian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 22 Act (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 188 IS (4) SECRETARY.—Except as otherwise provided 1 in this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec- 2 retary of Health and Human Services. 3 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes any of 4 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, 5 the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 6 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 7 (6) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘Tribal 8 organization’’ shall have the meaning given such 9 term in the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 10 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.). 11 SEC. 2. NATIONWIDE CONTACT TRACING STRATEGY. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 21 days after the 13 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, acting 14 through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 15 and Prevention, shall— 16 (1) provide to the appropriate congressional 17 committees a strategy to expand COVID–19 contact 18 tracing; and 19 (2) include in such strategy recommendations 20 to augment the capacity of State, Tribal, and local 21 public health departments to train and place individ- 22 uals into a Coronavirus Containment Corps to— 23 (A) investigate cases of COVID–19; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 188 IS (B) identify the contacts of individuals 1 confirmed or presumed to have been infected by 2 coronavirus; 3 (C) trace such contacts; and 4 (D) provide supports to ensure that such 5 contacts can take the precautions necessary to 6 safely quarantine to stop the spread of COVID– 7 19. 8 (b) CONSULTATION.—In developing the strategy 9 under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consult with— 10 (1) State public health officials; 11 (2) Tribal public health officials, Indian Tribes, 12 and Tribal organizations; 13 (3) local public health officials; 14 (4) the Director of the Indian Health Service; 15 and 16 (5) experts with knowledge of or field experi- 17 ence concerning racial and ethnic disparities in pub- 18 lic health and historically marginalized communities. 19 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—The strategy under subsection 20 (a) shall identify— 21 (1) the minimum number of persons needed to 22 investigate cases of COVID–19 and identify the con- 23 tacts of individuals confirmed or presumed to have 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 188 IS been infected by SARS–CoV–19 for each State and 1 Indian Tribe; 2 (2) the minimum number of contact tracers 3 needed for each State and Indian Tribe; 4 (3) the minimum number of specialists needed 5 to connect contacts described in paragraph (1) to so- 6 cial supports to ensure those contacts can take the 7 precautions necessary to safely quarantine to stop 8 the spread of COVID–19 for each State and Indian 9 Tribe; 10 (4) the recommended qualifications necessary 11 for case investigators, contact tracers, and social 12 support specialists to perform such duties success- 13 fully; 14 (5) strategies to enable State, Tribal, and local 15 public health departments to hire, train, and deploy 16 case investigators, contact tracers, and social sup- 17 port specialists; 18 (6) strategies to rapidly develop guidance and 19 training materials (including training on social de- 20 terminants of health, cultural competency, commu- 21 nications skills, and implicit and explicit bias train- 22 ing) necessary to support public health departments 23 in preparing individuals to serve as case investiga- 24 tors, contact tracers, and social support specialists; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 188 IS (7) plans to use mobile or app-based contact 1 tracing technology, including— 2 (A) plans to prevent the misuse of data 3 and to ensure the automatic deletion of data 4 after the conclusion of the COVID–19 public 5 health emergency; and 6 (B) plans to prohibit data sharing with 7 and within the Federal Government, with the 8 exceptions of the Centers for Disease Control 9 and Prevention and the Indian Health Service; 10 (8) strategies to record and publicly report 11 deidentified data, while protecting— 12 (A) the privacy of individuals and informa- 13 tion regarding their personal health; and 14 (B) Tribal data sovereignty; 15 (9) protocols to limit the risks posed to indi- 16 vidual privacy and data security, including through 17 data minimization, anonymizing and redacting, and 18 limitations on sharing and storing personally identi- 19 fiable information; 20 (10) strategies to monitor and evaluate best 21 practices in contact tracing, with input from State, 22 Tribal, and local public health departments; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 188 IS (11) strategies to coordinate with State and 1 Tribal workforce agencies to recruit newly unem- 2 ployed individuals— 3 (A) prioritizing individuals from within the 4 communities in which they will work; and 5 (B) reflecting the diversity of that commu- 6 nity. 7 (d) STRATEGIES TO ENABLE HIRING, TRAINING, 8 AND DEPLOYMENT.—Not later than 7 days after the 9 strategy under subsection (a) is provided to the appro- 10 priate congressional committees, the Secretary shall pro- 11 vide the strategies described in subsection (c)(5) to States 12 and Tribes. 13 (e) COORDINATION.—The Director of the Centers for 14 Disease Control and Prevention shall coordinate with the 15 Director of the Indian Health Service to ensure the strat- 16 egy developed under this section meets the needs of Indian 17 Tribes. 18 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENTS. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap- 20 propriations, the Secretary, acting through the Director 21 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall 22 award a grant to each State and local public health de- 23 partment that seeks a grant in accordance with this sec- 24 tion to implement the strategy under section 2(a). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 188 IS (b) FORMULA.—The Secretary shall allocate amounts 1 made available pursuant to subsection (a) in accordance 2 with a formula to be established by the Secretary that— 3 (1) provides a minimum level of funding to each 4 grantee; and 5 (2) allocates— 6 (A) additional funding among grantees 7 based on— 8 (i) population, including the presence 9 of medically underserved populations (as 10 defined in section 330(b)(3) of the Public 11 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b(b)));; 12 (ii) projected need for COVID–19 in 13 vitro diagnostic tests (as defined in section 14 809.3 of title 21, Code of Federal Regula- 15 tions (or successor regulations)) during the 16 period of the grant; 17 (iii) the percentage of COVID–19 18 cases per 10,000 persons as of the date of 19 submission of the application for the grant; 20 (iv) COVID–19 case growth rate; and 21 (v) projected number of COVID–19 22 cases during the period of the grant; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 188 IS (B) an additional increment for States that 1 have a plan to increase the percentage of the 2 population that will be tested. 3 (c) REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS.—Amounts made 4 available to a grantee pursuant to subsection (a) shall be 5 used for the following activities: 6 (1) Costs, including wages and benefits, includ- 7 ing health care benefits, as appropriate, related to 8 the recruiting and hiring of individuals— 9 (A) to serve as case investigators, contact 10 tracers, and social support specialists described 11 in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively, of 12 section 2(c); and 13 (B) employed by— 14 (i) the State or local government in- 15 volved; or 16 (ii) a nonprofit organization with 17 demonstrated expertise in implementing 18 public health programs. 19 (2) Supplies necessary for grantees to imple- 20 ment the strategy under section 2, including any 21 supplies, equipment, including personal protective 22 equipment, or technology for individuals serving as 23 case investigators, contact tracers, or social support 24 specialists. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 188 IS (3) Administrative costs and activities necessary 1 for grantees to implement the strategy under section 2 2. 3 (4) Development of partnerships with State, 4 Tribal, and local workforce development systems (as 5 defined in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and 6 Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102)) to provide train- 7 ing and supportive service for individuals serving as 8 case investigators, contact tracers, or social support 9 specialists. 10 (5) Reporting to the Centers for Disease Con- 11 trol and Prevention on— 12 (A) implementation of the strategy under 13 section 2; and 14 (B) indicators of performance listed in sec- 15 tion 5(c)(1). 16 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 17 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 18 $10,000,000,000, to remain available until expended. 19 SEC. 4. AWARDS TO TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap- 21 propriations, the Secretary, acting through the Director 22 of the Indian Health Service, in coordination with the Di- 23 rector of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 24 and in consultation with Indian Tribes and Tribal organi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 188 IS zations, shall award funds to Indian Tribes and Tribal or- 1 ganizations to implement the strategy under section 2. 2 (b) FORMULA.—The Secretary shall allocate amounts 3 made available pursuant to subsection (a) in accordance 4 with a formula to be established by the Secretary in con- 5 sultation with Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations 6 that— 7 (1) provides a minimum level of funding to each 8 federally recognized Indian Tribe; and 9 (2) allocates additional funding on the basis of 10 population. 11 (c) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Amounts made available 12 to an awardee pursuant to subsection (a) shall be used 13 for the following activities: 14 (1) Costs, including wages and benefits, includ- 15 ing health care benefits, as appropriate, related to 16 the recruiting and hiring of individuals— 17 (A) to serve as case investigators, contact 18 tracers, and social support specialists, which 19 may include community health representatives, 20 described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), re- 21 spectively, of section 2(c); and 22 (B) employed by— 23 (i) the Tribal government involved; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 188 IS (ii) a nonprofit organization with 1 demonstrated expertise in implementing 2 public health programs. 3 (2) Supplies necessary for awardees to imple- 4 ment the strategy under section 2, including any 5 supplies, equipment, including personal protective 6 equipment, or technology for individuals serving as 7 case investigators, contact tracers, or social support 8 specialists. 9 (3) Administrative costs and activities necessary 10 for awardees to implement the strategy under sec- 11 tion 2. 12 (4) Development of partnerships with State and 13 local workforce development systems (as defined in 14 section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor- 15 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102)) to provide training and 16 supportive service for individuals serving as case in- 17 vestigators, contact tracers, or social support special- 18 ists. 19 (5) Reporting to the Indian Health Service, 20 which shall then report the information to the Cen- 21 ters for Disease Control and Prevention, on— 22 (A) implementation of the strategy under 23 section 2; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S188.IS S188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 188 IS (B) indicators of performance listed in sec- 1 tion 5(c)(1). 2 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 3 out this section, there is authoriz [Text truncated for display. 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