A public health expert told Congress that the financial cost of coronavirus may blow past the billions of dollars spent on the H1N1 influenza outbreak, Ebola, and other pandemics.
“In 2009, Congress appropriated $7.7 billion for the H1N1 influenza pandemic, and in 2014, $5.4 billion was appropriated for the Ebola response,” Dr. Tom Inglesby, director for the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday. “COVID-19 will require perhaps twice as much money as Ebola or more.”
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Congress is expected to vote on an $8 billion emergency funding bill to address the coronavirus outbreak, party leaders said Tuesday. The World Bank also said on Tuesday that it will finance up to $12 billion in relief aid for countries that need assistance.
State costs have also started adding up, and states are waiting for the federal government to reimburse them. Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi O. Ezike said the state has spent $20 million on the virus since January, when the first coronavirus case nationwide was confirmed there.
“Emergency supplemental funding is necessary. Illinois encourages Congress to appropriate funds enough to reimburse Illinois and other states for the cost associated with this aggressive response,” Ezike said. Illinois was the first state to use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s coronavirus test and has set up three in-state facilities to run samples, which allows for faster results and eases the burden on the federal government.
As of Tuesday, the CDC reported 80 cases of coronavirus and nine deaths. More than 92,000 known cases have been documented across more than 60 countries.
