STOP COVID–19 Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 5073 To establish a program to support county and municipal government entities in reducing the spread of COVID–19 through standardized testing and evaluation measures, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 19, 2020 Mr. SCOTT of Florida introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To establish a program to support county and municipal government entities in reducing the spread of COVID– 19 through standardized testing and evaluation meas- ures, and for other purposes. 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. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Set Testing and Objec- 4 tives Plan for COVID–19 Act’’ or the ‘‘STOP COVID– 5 19 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5073.IS S5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 5073 IS SEC. 2. PROGRAM FOR COVID–19 TESTING, CONTACT TRAC- 1 ING, AND OTHER EFFORTS TO REDUCE THE 2 SPREAD OF COVID–19. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 4 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec- 5 retary’’) shall establish a program to award grants to 6 county and municipal government entities, to support 7 COVID–19 testing, contact tracing, and other efforts to 8 reduce the spread of COVID–19 in such counties and mu- 9 nicipalities. 10 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive a 11 grant under this section, a county or municipal govern- 12 ment entity shall— 13 (1) have a public health department; and 14 (2) submit an application to the Secretary at 15 such time, in such manner, and containing such in- 16 formation as the Secretary may require, including 17 the entity’s operational plan and proposed uses of 18 the grant funds. 19 (c) TECHNICAL SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall pro- 20 vide technical assistance to the public health department 21 of government entities awarded a grant under this section. 22 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under this sec- 23 tion may be used in support of programs to increase 24 COVID–19 testing and to reduce the spread of COVID– 25 19, which may include hiring staff for COVID–19 testing 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5073.IS S5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 5073 IS centers, funding mobile testing centers, hiring contact 1 tracers, purchasing IT equipment, conducting public 2 awareness campaigns, and paying for COVID–19 testing 3 or testing related equipment. 4 (e) REQUIREMENTS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each government entity re- 6 ceiving a grant under this section shall— 7 (A) develop a data-driven program for 8 COVID–19 testing, contact tracing, and other 9 efforts to stop the spread of COVID–19; 10 (B) operate a searchable, publicly available 11 website that lists every participating COVID–19 12 PCR testing center in the jurisdiction and, with 13 respect to each such center, state— 14 (i) whether testing is free or the cost 15 of such testing; 16 (ii) whether health insurance covers 17 the testing, and, if so, what information 18 health insurers will require before pro- 19 viding such coverage; and 20 (iii) the average time to obtain a test 21 result; and 22 (C) report weekly on the metrics described 23 in subsection (f)(1), for each neighborhood es- 24 tablished under paragraph (2)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5073.IS S5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 5073 IS (i) identifying any neighborhood for 1 which there is nonattainment on any such 2 metric during the applicable reporting pe- 3 riod; and 4 (ii) describing the specific mitigation 5 measures planned for any such neighbor- 6 hood to reach attainment, including a de- 7 scription of the measures required under 8 subsection (g)(2). 9 (2) NEIGHBORHOODS.— 10 (A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of meet- 11 ing the requirements under paragraph (1), each 12 government entity receiving a grant under this 13 section shall divide its jurisdiction into neigh- 14 borhoods, with each neighborhood being an area 15 with approximately 10,000 residents. 16 (B) PROVISION OF INFORMATION ON 17 MAP.—Each government entity shall make 18 available a map of the total jurisdiction that il- 19 lustrates the neighborhoods established pursu- 20 ant to subparagraph (A), and shall provide the 21 information required under paragraph (1) by 22 neighborhood. 23 (C) DESIGNATION OF PARTICULAR NEIGH- 24 BORHOODS.—With respect to any neighborhood 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5073.IS S5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 5073 IS that has not met the evaluation standards de- 1 scribed in subsection (f)(2) for a weekly report- 2 ing period under subsection (f)(1), the entity 3 shall highlight such nonattainment on the map, 4 in a manner to notify public users of areas not 5 meeting the evaluation standards. 6 (f) EVALUATION STANDARDS.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The standards for purposes 8 of determining compliance under paragraph (2) are 9 as follows: 10 (A) POSITIVITY RATE.— 11 (i) A positivity rate at or below 5 per- 12 cent for PCR testing. 13 (ii) A rate of newly infected residents 14 at or below 10 residents per 100,000 popu- 15 lation. 16 (iii) PCR testing at or above 750 resi- 17 dents per 100,000 population. 18 (iv) Rate of infection of less than 1.0. 19 (B) CONTACT TRACING.— 20 (i) Eighty percent of new cases of in- 21 fection are contacted by a contact tracer 22 within 24 hours. 23 (ii) Eighty percent of new cases of in- 24 fection identify contacts. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5073.IS S5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 5073 IS (iii) At least a median of 3 contacts 1 identified by a contact tracer per case. 2 (iv) Eighty percent of new cases fol- 3 lowed up on, on a daily basis, by a contact 4 tracer until the subject is out of isolation. 5 (v) Seventy percent of contacts re- 6 spond to the contact tracer. 7 (vi) Eighty-five percent of contacts 8 who are identified are tested. 9 (C) TEST RESULTS.—Eighty-five percent 10 of PCR tests have results within 48 hours. 11 (D) OTHER STANDARDS.—The Secretary 12 may modify or replace standards described in 13 subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), or add new 14 evaluation standards, provided such modifica- 15 tion, replacement, or addition is based on data- 16 driven research that demonstrates the basis of 17 the Secretary’s determination. 18 (2) COMPLIANCE.—A government entity shall 19 be considered to be in compliance with the require- 20 ments of this section for a weekly reporting period 21 if each neighborhood in the entity has met 85 per- 22 cent of the standards under paragraph (1) for such 23 reporting period. 24 (g) EFFECTS OF NONCOMPLIANCE.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5073.IS S5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 5073 IS (1) GRANT REDUCTION.— 1 (A) INITIAL PERIOD.—For the 2-month 2 period immediately proceeding the date of en- 3 actment of this Act, there shall be no reduction 4 to the grant amount received by a government 5 entity as a result of non-compliance as de- 6 scribed in subsection (f)(2). 7 (B) SUBSEQUENT PERIODS.—Beginning 2 8 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 9 in the case of a government entity that is not 10 in compliance for a reporting period as de- 11 scribed in subsection (f)(2), the entity shall 12 remit to the Federal Government an amount 13 equal to 25 percent of the total Federal funds 14 expended for the government entity pursuant to 15 the grant under this section for the applicable 16 weekly reporting period. 17 (2) TESTING AVAILABILITY MITIGATION EF- 18 FORTS.—In the case of a government entity that is 19 not in compliance for a weekly reporting period as 20 described in subsection (f)(2), the entity shall ensure 21 that, in the subsequent week, in each neighborhood 22 within the jurisdiction that did not meet 85 percent 23 of the standards under subsection (f)(1), residents 24 have access to PCR testing sites as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5073.IS S5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 5073 IS (A) In urban areas, 90 percent of residents 1 have access to a testing site within 2 miles of 2 their residence. 3 (B) In suburban areas, 90 percent of resi- 4 dents have access to a testing site within 5 5 miles of their residence. 6 (C) In rural areas, 70 percent of residents 7 have access to a testing site within 15 miles of 8 their residence. 9 (h) FUNDING.—The Secretary may use any unobli- 10 gated funds made available to the Public Health and So- 11 cial Services Emergency Fund to carry out this section. 12 (i) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to have force 13 or effect on the earlier of the date on which all funds de- 14 scribed in subsection (h) are expended or 180 days after 15 the date of enactment of this Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S5073.IS S5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS