Pandemic Community Reserve and Public Health Response Act
This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants and otherwise expand the federal public health reserve corps, including by reactivating retired personnel, to assist with COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) response efforts. This corps includes, among others, the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, the Medical Reserve Corps, and certain personnel of the Federal Emergency Management Agency appointed to respond to disasters and emergencies.
Specifically, HHS must award grants to governmental health departments to recruit and train personnel to serve in the federal public health reserve corps and assist with COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and treatment. To carry out these grants, health departments may establish partnerships with institutions that offer medical training and public health programs, giving priority to partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions. HHS must also develop a training program, in consultation with the Department of Defense, that addresses activation and surge capacity of the reserve corps to respond to COVID-19.
In addition, HHS must award grants, in consultation with the Department of Labor, to local workforce development boards to develop career plans and other activities to facilitate the transition of reserve corps personnel to other health-related occupations.
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