I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 710 
To create a Coronavirus Containment Corps, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 2, 2021 
Mr. LEVIN of Michigan (for himself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Ms. 
BARRAGA´N, Ms. BASS, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. 
CARSON, Ms. DEAN, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, 
Mr. EVANS, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. GREEN of Texas, 
Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. 
JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. LAWSON of Flor-
ida, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LIEU, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 
POCAN, Ms. PORTER, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. ROSS, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. 
SABLAN, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. TRONE, and Mr. 
VARGAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on 
Education and Labor, and Natural Resources, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To create a Coronavirus Containment Corps, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; DEFINI-
TIONS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Coronavirus Containment Corps Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents; definitions. 
Sec. 2. Nationwide contact tracing strategy. 
Sec. 3. Grants to public health departments. 
Sec. 4. Awards to Tribes and Tribal organizations. 
Sec. 5. Reporting by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
Sec. 6. Grants to State and Tribal workforce agencies. 
Sec. 7. GAO study. 
Sec. 8. Application of the Service Contract Act to contracts and grants. 
Sec. 9. Rule of construction. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Education and 
Labor of the House of Representatives; 
(B) the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce of the House of Representatives; and 
(C) the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 
(2) The term ‘‘COVID–19 public health emer-
gency’’ means— 
(A) the public health emergency declared 
by the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 
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2020, as a result of confirmed cases of 2019 
Novel Coronavirus (2019–nCoV) and any suc-
cessor to such declaration; or 
(B) the national emergency declared by the 
President under the National Emergencies Act 
(50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) on March 13, 2020, 
as a result of the COVID–19 outbreak. 
(3) The term ‘‘State’’ includes any of the 50 
States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the 
Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 
(4) The terms ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ and ‘‘Tribal or-
ganization’’ have the meanings given to the terms 
‘‘Indian Tribe’’ and ‘‘Tribal organization’’, respec-
tively, in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 
and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 
SEC. 2. NATIONWIDE CONTACT TRACING STRATEGY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 21 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services (in this section referred to as the 
‘‘Secretary’’), acting through the Director of the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention, shall— 
(1) provide to the appropriate congressional 
committees a strategy to expand COVID–19 contact 
tracing; and 
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(2) include in such strategy recommendations 
to augment the capacity of State, Tribal, and local 
public health departments to train and place individ-
uals 
(to 
be 
referred 
to 
collectively 
as 
the 
‘‘Coronavirus Containment Corps’’) to— 
(A) investigate cases of COVID–19; 
(B) identify the contacts of individuals 
confirmed or presumed to have been infected by 
SARS–CoV–2; 
(C) trace such contacts; and 
(D) provide supports to ensure that such 
contacts can take the precautions necessary to 
safely quarantine to stop the spread of COVID– 
19. 
(b) CONSULTATION.—In developing the strategy 
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consult with— 
(1) State public health officials; 
(2) Tribal public health officials, Tribal nations, 
and Tribal organizations; 
(3) local public health officials; 
(4) the Director of the Indian Health Service; 
and 
(5) experts with knowledge of, or field experi-
ence concerning, racial and ethnic disparities in pub-
lic health and historically marginalized communities. 
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(c) REQUIREMENTS.—The strategy under subsection 
(a) shall identify— 
(1) the minimum number of persons needed to 
investigate cases of COVID–19 and identify the con-
tacts of individuals confirmed or presumed to have 
been infected by SARS–CoV–2 for each State and 
Indian Tribe; 
(2) the minimum number of contact tracers 
needed for each State and Indian Tribe; 
(3) the minimum number of specialists needed 
to connect contacts described in paragraph (1) to so-
cial supports to ensure those contacts can take the 
precautions necessary to safely quarantine to stop 
the spread of COVID–19 for each State and Indian 
Tribe; 
(4) the recommended qualifications necessary 
for case investigators, contact tracers, and social 
support specialists to perform such duties success-
fully; 
(5) strategies to enable State, Tribal, and local 
public health departments to hire, train, and deploy 
case investigators, contact tracers, and social sup-
port specialists; 
(6) strategies to rapidly develop guidance and 
training materials necessary to support public health 
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departments in preparing individuals to serve as 
case investigators, contact tracers, and social sup-
port specialists; 
(7) plans to use mobile or app-based contact 
tracing technology, including— 
(A) plans to prevent the misuse of data 
and to ensure the automatic deletion of data 
after the conclusion of the COVID–19 public 
health emergency; and 
(B) plans to prohibit data sharing with 
and within the Federal Government, with the 
exceptions of the Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention and the Indian Health Service; 
(8) strategies to record and publicly report de- 
identified data, while protecting— 
(A) the privacy of individuals and informa-
tion regarding their personal health; and 
(B) Tribal data sovereignty; 
(9) protocols to limit the risks posed to indi-
vidual privacy and data security, including through 
data minimization, anonymizing and redacting, and 
limitations on sharing and storing personally identi-
fiable information; 
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(10) strategies to monitor and evaluate best 
practices in contact tracing, with input from State, 
Tribal, and local public health departments; and 
(11) strategies to coordinate with State and 
Tribal workforce agencies to recruit newly unem-
ployed individuals— 
(A) prioritizing individuals from within the 
communities in which they will work; and 
(B) reflecting the diversity of that commu-
nity. 
(d) STRATEGIES TO ENABLE HIRING, TRAINING, 
AND DEPLOYMENT.—Not later than 7 days after the 
strategy under subsection (a) is provided to the appro-
priate congressional committees, the Secretary shall pro-
vide the strategies described in subsection (c)(5) to States 
and Tribes. 
SEC. 3. GRANTS TO PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap-
propriations, the Secretary Health and Human Services 
(in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’), acting 
through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention, shall award a grant to each State and 
local public health department that seeks a grant in ac-
cordance with this section to implement the strategy under 
section 2(a). 
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(b) FORMULA.—The Secretary shall allocate amounts 
made available pursuant to subsection (a) in accordance 
with a formula to be established by the Secretary that— 
(1) provides a minimum level of funding to each 
grantee; and 
(2) allocates— 
(A) additional funding among grantees 
based on— 
(i) population, including the presence 
of medically underserved populations (as 
defined in section 330(b)(3) of the Public 
Health 
Service 
Act 
(42 
U.S.C. 
254b(b)(3))); 
(ii) the projected need for COVID–19 
in vitro diagnostic products (as defined in 
section 809.3 of title 21, Code of Federal 
Regulations (or successor regulations)) 
during the period of the grant; 
(iii) the percentage of COVID–19 
cases per 10,000 persons as of the date of 
submission of the application for the grant; 
(iv) the COVID–19 case growth rate; 
and 
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