March 05, 2020

Massachusetts Awarded $500K in Initial Federal Funding to Combat Coronavirus Outbreak

CDC Grant Will Support State and Local Response to COVID-19

Boston, MA - United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $500,000 in initial funding to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to support efforts to address a potential outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This initial funding comes in advance of a Senate vote on a $7.8 billion appropriations package that would provide additional emergency funding to Massachusetts and other jurisdictions.

"The coronavirus outbreak is a public health emergency and requires an all-hands-on-deck response," said Senator Warren. "While I am pleased that the federal government has awarded this much-needed funding to the Commonwealth, we must act quickly to provide communities with the resources they need to confront this potential pandemic and minimize the economic impact this crisis could have on our families. I'll keep fighting to make sure our federal government has an effective response to this crisis."

"Responding to the coronavirus emergency will take leadership and resources at the federal, state, and local level," said Senator Markey. "This federal funding for Massachusetts communities will help them confront this growing threat and help address the harm it could have on their economies, and public health and safety. There is much more to be done to support our response to the coronavirus crisis, and I will continue to fight to protect our families and our communities."

The funding awarded to Massachusetts is part of an initial $25 million cooperative agreement to the states and local jurisdictions who have borne the largest burden of response and preparedness activities to date. This initial award will provide assistance for activities such as monitoring of travelers, data management, lab equipment, supplies, staffing, shipping, infection control, and surge staffing.

For more information about this virus, please visit CDC's website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

For the latest information on the outbreak, visit CDC's Novel Coronavirus 2019 website.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, Senator Warren has worked to ensure that the Trump Administration is effectively responding to the outbreak and that the U.S. has the resources needed to address this threat. Her ongoing efforts include the following:

Senator Warren sent letters to the CEOs of Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley -- the U.S.-based "Too Big to Fail" banks with the largest foreign exposures -- asking about how they are monitoring and preparing to mitigate the economic risks of the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Senator Warren introduced legislationrequiring all funds that have been appropriated to build a border wall --including funds directly appropriated by Congress and funds diverted by the executive branch from other accounts -- to be immediately transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the purpose of combatting the novel coronavirus.
Senator Warren wrote to federal agenciesraising concernsover reports that appeared to show confusion and disagreement between federal officials earlier this month when State Department and HHS officials overruled Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations during the evacuation of American citizens with coronavirus from Japan.
Senator Warren joined Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and 24 of their Senate colleaguespressingthe Trump Administration to request emergency funding for the coronavirus response. Their letter to HHS and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) also expressed concerns over the Trump Administration's failure to outline what additional resources it needs to respond to the rapidly developing coronavirus outbreak.
Senator Warren and Senator Murray led 25 of their Senate colleaguesurgingthe head of the National Security Council (NSC) to appoint a senior global health security expert to manage the response to the threat. Senators Warren and Murrayfirst raised concernsabout this lack of public health leadership at the NSC in May 2018.
Senator Warren alsojoinedSenator Murray and sent a letter to OMB and HHS opposing their decision to pull funding from existing public health programs to combat coronavirus rather than requesting supplemental funds from Congress.
On February 13, 2020, Senator Warren joined Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on a bipartisan lettercallingon HHS to establish clear guidelines for how state and local governments will be reimbursed for costs incurred while assisting the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak.
On February 3, 2020, Senator Warren joined Senator Murray and Congressman Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) and 47 of their bipartisan colleaguescallingon CDC to distribute rapid diagnostic tests for the novel coronavirus as quickly as possible and to prioritize states with confirmed cases of the virus to receive the first available test kits.
On January 31, 2020, after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the United States, Senators Warren and Angus King (I-Maine)questionedUSAID on the agency's 2019 decision to shutter PREDICT, a global infectious disease prevention program, which from 2009 to 2019, identified nearly 1,000 new viruses, including a new strand of Ebola; trained roughly 5,000 people; and improved or developed 60 research laboratories.
Also in January 2020, Senator Warren joined Senator Murray and 29 of their Democratic Senate colleaguessendinga letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar requesting updates on the Administration's response to the novel coronavirus outbreak and information on the steps being taken to keep families safe.
Further, following the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission's2019 Annual Reportthat showed U.S. "growing reliance" on products critical to the manufacturing of drugs, which are primarily made in China, Senator Warren and a group of bipartisan senatorswroteto the Department of Defense (DoD) seeking answers on how DoD is working to address the risk of reliance on foreign drug makers.

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