Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Michael Bennet introduced legislation to create a federal “Health Force” to combat the coronavirus.
“In the face of this unprecedented crisis, Congress must harness American patriotism, resilience, and ingenuity by establishing a Health Force to combat this deadly virus,” said Gillibrand, who represents New York.
The senators claimed that the bill would put thousands of people back to work. It would spend $55 billion to hire and train workers to administer COVID-19 tests, provide COVID-19 vaccinations when they became available, enter data in support of epidemic surveillance, and provide other health services as needed.
The Centers for Disease Control would train Health Force employees, and state and local governments would manage them. Once the pandemic subsided, the employees would be redeployed as health extension workers among vulnerable populations.
Emphasizing the need for more public health workers, a recent report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security suggested that the United States would need 100,000 more contact tracers, workers who help track the spread of the coronavirus, to combat the pandemic.
The bill also includes funding for a “Resiliency Force,” a proposal by Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland to hire an additional 62,000 employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
