STOP COVID–19 Act
Bill: S.302 | Sponsor: Sen. Scott, Rick (R-FL)
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Set Testing and Objectives Plan for COVID-19 Act or the STOP COVID-19 Act
This bill establishes two grant programs to support public health measures to address COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019).
First, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must award grants to local health departments for testing, contact tracing, and other activities to reduce the spread of COVID-19. A recipient of one of these grants must meet specific standards for testing and contact tracing. If a grantee remains unable to meet those standards after two months, it must return a portion of the grant funding.
HHS may use unobligated funds from the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund for these grants. The authority to make these grants terminates when that funding is expended or 180 days after this bill's enactment, whichever is earlier.
Second, HHS must award grants to support COVID-19 vaccination efforts in states and territories. A recipient of one of these grants must publicly report information about its vaccine efforts, develop a unified system to register its residents for vaccines, and administer at least 95% of its vaccine allotment each month. If a grantee fails to use the required percentage of its vaccines, it must return a portion of the grant funding.
HHS may use specified COVID-19 relief funding for these grants. The authority to make these grants terminates when that funding is expended or December 31, 2021, whichever is earlier.

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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Set Testing and Objectives Plan for 
COVID-19 Act'' or the ``STOP COVID-19 Act''.

SEC. 2. PROGRAM FOR COVID-19 TESTING, CONTACT TRACING, AND OTHER 
              EFFORTS TO REDUCE THE SPREAD OF COVID-19.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
(referred to in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall establish a 
program to award grants to county and municipal government entities, to 
support COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and other efforts to reduce 
the spread of COVID-19 in such counties and municipalities.
    (b) Eligible Entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
this section, a county or municipal government entity shall--
            (1) have a public health department; and
            (2) submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 
        such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary 
        may require, including the entity's operational plan and 
        proposed uses of the grant funds.
    (c) Technical Support.--The Secretary shall provide technical 
assistance to the public health department of government entities 
awarded a grant under this section.
    (d) Use of Funds.--Grants awarded under this section may be used in 
support of programs to increase COVID-19 testing and to reduce the 
spread of COVID-19, which may include hiring staff for COVID-19 testing 
centers, funding mobile testing centers, hiring contact tracers, 
purchasing IT equipment, conducting public awareness campaigns, and 
paying for COVID-19 testing or testing related equipment.
    (e) Requirements.--
            (1) In general.--Each government entity receiving a grant 
        under this section shall--
                    (A) develop a data-driven program for COVID-19 
                testing, contact tracing, and other efforts to stop the 
                spread of COVID-19;
                    (B) operate a searchable, publicly available 
                website that lists every participating COVID-19 PCR 
                testing center in the jurisdiction and, with respect to 
                each such center, state--
                            (i) whether testing is free or the cost of 
                        such testing;
                            (ii) whether health insurance covers the 
                        testing, and, if so, what information health 
                        insurers will require before providing such 
                        coverage; and
                            (iii) the average time to obtain a test 
                        result; and
                    (C) report weekly on the metrics described in 
                subsection (f)(1), for each neighborhood established 
                under paragraph (2)--
                            (i) identifying any neighborhood for which 
                        there is nonattainment on any such metric 
                        during the applicable reporting period; and
                            (ii) describing the specific mitigation 
                        measures planned for any such neighborhood to 
                        reach attainment, including a description of 
                        the measures required under subsection (g)(2).
            (2) Neighborhoods.--
                    (A) In general.--For purposes of meeting the 
                requirements under paragraph (1), each government 
                entity receiving a grant under this section shall 
                divide its jurisdiction into neighborhoods, with each 
                neighborhood being an area with approximately 10,000 
                residents.
                    (B) Provision of information on map.--Each 
                government entity shall make available a map of the 
                total jurisdiction that illustrates the neighborhoods 
                established pursuant to subparagraph (A), and shall 
                provide the information required under paragraph (1) by 
                neighborhood.
                    (C) Designation of particular neighborhoods.--With 
                respect to any neighborhood that has not met the 
                evaluation standards described in subsection (f)(2) for 
                a weekly reporting period under subsection (f)(1), the 
                entity shall highlight such nonattainment on the map, 
                in a manner to notify public users of areas not meeting 
                the evaluation standards.
    (f) Evaluation Standards.--
            (1) In general.--The standards for purposes of determining 
        compliance under paragraph (2) are as follows:
                    (A) Positivity rate.--
                            (i) A positivity rate at or below 5 percent 
                        for PCR testing.
                            (ii) A rate of newly infected residents at 
                        or below 10 residents per 100,000 population.
                            (iii) PCR testing at or above 750 residents 
                        per 100,000 population.
                            (iv) Rate of infection of less than 1.0.
                    (B) Contact tracing.--
                            (i) Eighty percent of new cases of 
                        infection are contacted by a contact tracer 
                        within 24 hours.
                            (ii) Eighty percent of new cases of 
                        infection identify contacts.
                            (iii) At least a median of 3 contacts 
                        identified by a contact tracer per case.
                            (iv) Eighty percent of new cases followed 
                        up on, on a daily basis, by a contact tracer 
                        until the subject is out of isolation.
                            (v) Seventy percent of contacts respond to 
                        the contact tracer.
                            (vi) Eighty-five percent of contacts who 
                        are identified are tested.
                    (C) Test results.--Eighty-five percent of PCR tests 
                have results within 48 hours.
                    (D) Other standards.--The Secretary may modify or 
                replace standards described in subparagraphs (A), (B), 
                and (C), or add new evaluation standards, provided such 
                modification, replacement, or addition is based on 
                data-driven research that demonstrates the basis of the 
                Secretary's determination.
            (2) Compliance.--A government entity shall be considered to 
        be in compliance with the requirements of this section for a 
        weekly reporting period if each neighborhood in the entity has 
        met 85 percent of the standards under paragraph (1) for such 
        reporting period.
    (g) Effects of Noncompliance.--
            (1) Grant reduction.--
                    (A) Initial period.--For the 2-month period 
                immediately proceeding the date of enactment of this 
                Act, there shall be no reduction to the grant amount 
                received by a government entity as a result of non-
                compliance as described in subsection (f)(2).
                    (B) Subsequent periods.--Beginning 2 months after 
                the date of enactment of this Act, in the case of a 
                government entity that is not in compliance for a 
                reporting period as described in subsection (f)(2), the 
                entity shall remit to the Federal Government an amount 
                equal to 25 percent of the total Federal funds expended 
                for the government entity pursuant to the grant under 
                this section for the applicable weekly reporting 
                period.
            (2) Testing availability mitigation efforts.--In the case 
        of a government entity that is not in compliance for a weekly 
        reporting period as described in subsection (f)(2), the entity 
        shall ensure that, in the subsequent week, in each neighborhood 
        within the jurisdiction that did not meet 85 percent of the 
        standards under subsection (f)(1), residents have access to PCR 
        testing sites as follows:
                    (A) In urban areas, 90 percent of residents have 
                access to a testing site within 2 miles of their 
                residence.
                    (B) In suburban areas, 90 percent of residents have 
                access to a testing site within 5 miles of their 
                residence.
                    (C) In rural areas, 70 percent of residents have 
                access to a testing site within 15 miles of their 
                residence.
    (h) Funding.--The Secretary may use any unobligated funds made 
available to the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund to 
carry out this section.
    (i) Sunset.--This section shall cease to have force or effect on 
the earlier of the date on which all funds described in subsection (h) 
are expended or 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. PROGRAM FOR COVID-19 VACCINATION.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
(referred to in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall establish a 
program to award grants to States to support COVID-19 vaccination in 
the States.
    (b) Applications.--
            (1) In general.--A State desiring a grant under this 
        section shall submit an application to the Secretary, at such 
        time, in such manner, and containing such information as the 
        Secretary may require, including a vaccination plan, 
        operational details, and proposed use of the grant funds.
            (2) Technical assistance.--The Secretary shall provide 
        technical assistance to States for purposes of developing the 
        vaccination plans to be included in applications under 
        paragraph (1).
    (c) Use of Funds.--Grants awarded under this section shall be used 
to support increasing vaccination efforts in the State, such as meeting 
increased staffing needs, establishing and supporting vaccination 
centers, conducting public awareness campaigns, and obtaining equipment 
for vaccine distribution.
    (d) Requirements.--As a condition of receipt of a grant under this 
section, a State shall agree to--
            (1) submit and publicly post weekly reports, as described 
        in subsection (e);
            (2) develop a unified registration process for residents 
        and assign each resident to a vaccination site, with the goal 
        of matching residents with the nearest vaccination site, and 
        taking into account the availability of vaccine supply; and
            (3) administer 95 percent of the State's vaccine allocation 
        each month, or, for each month the State fails to administer 
        such amount, remit to the Federal Government an amount equal to 
        25 percent of the amount received by the State under this 
        section for that month.
    (e) Vaccine Data Reporting.--Each State receiving a grant under 
this section shall submit to the Secretary, and post on a publicly 
available website, a weekly report on, with respect to the State--
            (1) the State's current vaccination plan and vaccine 
        distribution methodology;
            (2) the State's vaccination targets for the proceeding 
        week;
            (3) whether the State met its vaccination targets for the 
        previous week, and, if not, details on why the targets were 
        missed;
            (4) the daily and weekly cumulative totals of--
                    (A) the number of vaccines (of each type) received;
                    (B) the number of first shot vaccines administered;
                    (C) the number of vaccine series completed; and
                    (D) the number of vaccine doses wasted or lost;
            (5) the vaccine priority groups in the State and--
                    (A) an estimate of how many people are in each 
                priority group, by State, county, and neighborhood (as 
                designated under section 2(e)(2)(A) pursuant to the 
                program under section 2, or, in the case of a State not 
                participating in the program under section 2, as 
                designated for purposes of this section, as described 
                section 2(e)(2)(A)); and
                    (B) an estimate of how many people in each priority 
                group have been vaccinated, by State, county, and 
                neighborhood (as so designated);
            (6) the percent of vaccine coverage--
                    (A) by neighborhood (as so designated);
                    (B) by age demographic, and an estimate of how many 
                people are in each such demographic, by State, county, 
                and neighborhood (as so designated); and
                    (C) by race, ethnic group, and sex, and an estimate 
                of how many people are in each such group by State, 
                county, and neighborhood (as so designated);
            (7) the number of people who scheduled vaccination--
                    (A) online;
                    (B) by phone; and
                    (C) by walk-up at a vaccination center;
            (8) the number of vaccinations performed by providers at--
                    (A) mass vaccination centers;
                    (B) physician's offices and medical practices;
                    (C) hospitals;
                    (D) pharmacies;
                    (E) community centers; and
                    (F) health departments; and
            (9) the wait time to be vaccinated.
    (f) Funding.--Out of any unobligated amounts made available to the 
Secretary under the heading ``CDC-Wide Activities and Program Support'' 
under the heading ``Centers for Disease Control and Prevention'' under 
the heading ``Department of Health and Human Services'' under title III 
of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 
2021 (Public Law 116-260), the Secretary may allocate $8,750,000,000 to 
carry out this section.
    (g) State.--For purposes of this section, the term ``State'' 
includes each of the 50 States, territories, and the District of 
Columbia.
    (h) Sunset.--This section shall cease to have force or effect on 
the earlier of December 31, 2021, or the date on which the amounts 
described in subsection (f) have been expended.
                                 <all>