II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 302 

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 

FEBRUARY 8, 2021 

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 measures, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Set Testing and Objec5 tives Plan for COVID–19 Act’’ or the ‘‘STOP COVID– 

6 19 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROGRAM FOR COVID–19 TESTING, CONTACT TRAC2 ING, AND OTHER EFFORTS TO REDUCE THE 

3 SPREAD OF COVID–19. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

5 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec6 retary’’) shall establish a program to award grants to 

7 county and municipal government entities, to support 

8 COVID–19 testing, contact tracing, and other efforts to 

9 reduce the spread of COVID–19 in such counties and mu10 nicipalities. 

11 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive a 

12 grant under this section, a county or municipal govern13 ment entity shall— 

14 (1) have a public health department; and 

15 (2) submit an application to the Secretary at 

16 such time, in such manner, and containing such in17 formation as the Secretary may require, including 

18 the entity’s operational plan and proposed uses of 

19 the grant funds. 

20 (c) TECHNICAL SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall pro21 vide technical assistance to the public health department 

22 of government entities awarded a grant under this section. 

23 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under this sec24 tion may be used in support of programs to increase 

25 COVID–19 testing and to reduce the spread of COVID– 

26 19, which may include hiring staff for COVID–19 testing 


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1 centers, funding mobile testing centers, hiring contact 

2 tracers, purchasing IT equipment, conducting public 

3 awareness campaigns, and paying for COVID–19 testing 

4 or testing related equipment. 

5 (e) REQUIREMENTS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each government entity re7 ceiving a grant under this section shall— 

8 (A) develop a data-driven program for 

9 COVID–19 testing, contact tracing, and other 

10 efforts to stop the spread of COVID–19; 

11 (B) operate a searchable, publicly available 

12 website that lists every participating COVID–19 

13 PCR testing center in the jurisdiction and, with 

14 respect to each such center, state— 

15 (i) whether testing is free or the cost 

16 of such testing; 

17 (ii) whether health insurance covers 

18 the testing, and, if so, what information 

19 health insurers will require before pro20 viding such coverage; and 

21 (iii) the average time to obtain a test 

22 result; and 

23 (C) report weekly on the metrics described 

24 in subsection (f)(1), for each neighborhood es25 tablished under paragraph (2)— 


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1 (i) identifying any neighborhood for 

2 which there is nonattainment on any such 

3 metric during the applicable reporting pe4 riod; and 

5 (ii) describing the specific mitigation 

6 measures planned for any such neighbor7 hood to reach attainment, including a de8 scription of the measures required under 

9 subsection (g)(2). 

10 (2) NEIGHBORHOODS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of meet12 ing the requirements under paragraph (1), each 

13 government entity receiving a grant under this 

14 section shall divide its jurisdiction into neigh15 borhoods, with each neighborhood being an area 

16 with approximately 10,000 residents. 

17 (B) PROVISION OF INFORMATION ON

18 MAP.—Each government entity shall make 

19 available a map of the total jurisdiction that il20 lustrates the neighborhoods established pursu21 ant to subparagraph (A), and shall provide the 

22 information required under paragraph (1) by 

23 neighborhood. 

24 (C) DESIGNATION OF PARTICULAR NEIGH25 BORHOODS.—With respect to any neighborhood 


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1 that has not met the evaluation standards de2 scribed in subsection (f)(2) for a weekly report3 ing period under subsection (f)(1), the entity 

4 shall highlight such nonattainment on the map, 

5 in a manner to notify public users of areas not 

6 meeting the evaluation standards. 

7 (f) EVALUATION STANDARDS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The standards for purposes 

9 of determining compliance under paragraph (2) are 

10 as follows: 

11 (A) POSITIVITY RATE.— 

12 (i) A positivity rate at or below 5 per13 cent for PCR testing. 

14 (ii) A rate of newly infected residents 

15 at or below 10 residents per 100,000 popu16 lation. 

17 (iii) PCR testing at or above 750 resi18 dents per 100,000 population. 

19 (iv) Rate of infection of less than 1.0. 

20 (B) CONTACT TRACING.— 

21 (i) Eighty percent of new cases of in22 fection are contacted by a contact tracer 

23 within 24 hours. 

24 (ii) Eighty percent of new cases of in25 fection identify contacts. 


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1 (iii) At least a median of 3 contacts 

2 identified by a contact tracer per case. 

3 (iv) Eighty percent of new cases fol4 lowed up on, on a daily basis, by a contact 

5 tracer until the subject is out of isolation. 

6 (v) Seventy percent of contacts re7 spond to the contact tracer. 

8 (vi) Eighty-five percent of contacts 

9 who are identified are tested. 

10 (C) TEST RESULTS.—Eighty-five percent 

11 of PCR tests have results within 48 hours. 

12 (D) OTHER STANDARDS.—The Secretary 

13 may modify or replace standards described in 

14 subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), or add new 

15 evaluation standards, provided such modifica16 tion, replacement, or addition is based on data17 driven research that demonstrates the basis of 

18 the Secretary’s determination. 

19 (2) COMPLIANCE.—A government entity shall 

20 be considered to be in compliance with the require21 ments of this section for a weekly reporting period 

22 if each neighborhood in the entity has met 85 per23 cent of the standards under paragraph (1) for such 

24 reporting period. 

25 (g) EFFECTS OF NONCOMPLIANCE.— 


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1 (1) GRANT REDUCTION.— 

2 (A) INITIAL PERIOD.—For the 2-month 

3 period immediately proceeding the date of en4 actment of this Act, there shall be no reduction 

5 to the grant amount received by a government 

6 entity as a result of non-compliance as de7 scribed in subsection (f)(2). 

8 (B) SUBSEQUENT PERIODS.—Beginning 2 

9 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

10 in the case of a government entity that is not 

11 in compliance for a reporting period as de12 scribed in subsection (f)(2), the entity shall 

13 remit to the Federal Government an amount 

14 equal to 25 percent of the total Federal funds 

15 expended for the government entity pursuant to 

16 the grant under this section for the applicable 

17 weekly reporting period. 

18 (2) TESTING AVAILABILITY MITIGATION EF19 FORTS.—In the case of a government entity that is 

20 not in compliance for a weekly reporting period as 

21 described in subsection (f)(2), the entity shall ensure 

22 that, in the subsequent week, in each neighborhood 

23 within the jurisdiction that did not meet 85 percent 

24 of the standards under subsection (f)(1), residents 

25 have access to PCR testing sites as follows: 


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1 (A) In urban areas, 90 percent of residents 

2 have access to a testing site within 2 miles of 

3 their residence. 

4 (B) In suburban areas, 90 percent of resi5 dents have access to a testing site within 5 

6 miles of their residence. 

7 (C) In rural areas, 70 percent of residents 

8 have access to a testing site within 15 miles of 

9 their residence. 

10 (h) FUNDING.—The Secretary may use any unobli11 gated funds made available to the Public Health and So12 cial Services Emergency Fund to carry out this section. 

13 (i) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to have force 

14 or effect on the earlier of the date on which all funds de15 scribed in subsection (h) are expended or 180 days after 

16 the date of enactment of this Act. 

17 SEC. 3. PROGRAM FOR COVID–19 VACCINATION. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

19 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec20 retary’’) shall establish a program to award grants to 

21 States to support COVID–19 vaccination in the States. 

22 (b) APPLICATIONS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State desiring a grant 

24 under this section shall submit an application to the 

25 Secretary, at such time, in such manner, and conVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 Mar 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S302.IS S302

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1 taining such information as the Secretary may re2 quire, including a vaccination plan, operational de3 tails, and proposed use of the grant funds. 

4 (2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

5 shall provide technical assistance to States for pur6 poses of developing the vaccination plans to be in7 cluded in applications under paragraph (1). 

8 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under this sec9 tion shall be used to support increasing vaccination efforts 

10 in the State, such as meeting increased staffing needs, es11 tablishing and supporting vaccination centers, conducting 

12 public awareness campaigns, and obtaining equipment for 

13 vaccine distribution. 

14 (d) REQUIREMENTS.—As a condition of receipt of a 

15 grant under this section, a State shall agree to— 

16 (1) submit and publicly post weekly reports, as 

17 described in subsection (e); 

18 (2) develop a unified registration process for 

19 residents and assign each resident to a vaccination 

20 site, with the goal of matching residents with the 

21 nearest vaccination site, and taking into account the 

22 availability of vaccine supply; and 

23 (3) administer 95 percent of the State’s vaccine 

24 allocation each month, or, for each month the State 

25 fails to administer such amount, remit to the FedVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 Mar 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S302.IS S302

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1 eral Government an amount equal to 25 percent of 

2 the amount received by the State under this section 

3 for that month. 

4 (e) VACCINE DATA REPORTING.—Each State receiv5 ing a grant under this section shall submit to the Sec6 retary, and post on a publicly available website, a weekly 

7 report on, with respect to the State— 

8 (1) the State’s current vaccination plan and 

9 vaccine distribution methodology; 

10 (2) the State’s vaccination targets for the pro11 ceeding week; 

12 (3) whether the State met its vaccination tar13 gets for the previous week, and, if not, details on 

14 why the targets were missed; 

15 (4) the daily and weekly cumulative totals of— 

16 (A) the number of vaccines (of each type) 

17 received; 

18 (B) the number of first shot vaccines ad19 ministered; 

20 (C) the number of vaccine series com21 pleted; and 

22 (D) the number of vaccine doses wasted or 

23 lost; 

24 (5) the vaccine priority groups in the State 

25 and— 


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1 (A) an estimate of how many people are in 

2 each priority group, by State, county, and 

3 neighborhood (as designated under section 

4 2(e)(2)(A) pursuant to the program under sec5 tion 2, or, in the case of a State not partici6 pating in the program under section 2, as des7 ignated for purposes of this section, as de8 scribed section 2(e)(2)(A)); and 

9 (B) an estimate of how many people in 

10 each priority group have been vaccinated, by 

11 State, county, and neighborhood (as so des12 ignated); 

13 (6) the percent of vaccine coverage— 

14 (A) by neighborhood (as so designated); 

15 (B) by age demographic, and an estimate 

16 of how many people are in each such demo17 graphic, by State, county, and neighborhood (as 

18 so designated); and 

19 (C) by race, ethnic group, and sex, and an 

20 estimate of how many people are in each such 

21 group by State, county, and neighborhood (as 

22 so designated); 

23 (7) the number of people who scheduled vac24 cination— 

25 (A) online; 


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1 (B) by phone; and 

2 (C) by walk-up at a vaccination center; 

3 (8) the number of vaccinations performed by 

4 providers at— 

5 (A) mass vaccination centers; 

6 (B) physician’s offices and medical prac7 tices; 

8 (C) hospitals; 

9 (D) pharmacies; 

10 (E) community centers; and 

11 (F) health departments; and 

12 (9) the wait time to be vaccinated. 

13 (f) FUNDING.—Out of any unobligated amounts 

14 made available to the Secretary under the heading ‘‘CDC15 Wide Activities and Program Support’’ under the heading 

16 ‘‘Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’’ under the 

17 heading ‘‘Department of Health and Human Services’’ 

18 under title III of the Coronavirus Response and Relief 

19 Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116– 

20 260), the Secretary may allocate $8,750,000,000 to carry 

21 out this section. 

22 (g) STATE.—For purposes of this section, the term 

23 ‘‘State’’ includes each of the 50 States, territories, and 

24 the District of Columbia. 


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1 (h) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to have force 

2 or effect on the earlier of December 31, 2021, or the date 

3 on which the amounts described in subsection (f) have 

4 been expended. 

Æ 


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