Presidential DocumentExecutive Order 139962021-01854
Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats
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Published
January 26, 2021
Signed
January 21, 2021
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 15 (Tuesday, January 26, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 26, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7197-7199]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-01854]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 86 , No. 15 / Tuesday, January 26, 2021 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 7197]]
Executive Order 13996 of January 21, 2021
Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board
and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for
COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including section 301 of title 3, United
States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of my
Administration to control coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-19) by using a Government-wide, unified approach
that includes: establishing a national COVID-19 testing
and public health workforce strategy; working to expand
the supply of tests; working to bring test
manufacturing to the United States, where possible;
working to enhance laboratory testing capacity; working
to expand the public health workforce; supporting
screening testing for schools and priority populations;
and ensuring a clarity of messaging about the use of
tests and insurance coverage.
Sec. 2. COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board.
(a) Establishment and Membership. There is
established a COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board (Testing
Board), chaired by the Coordinator of the COVID-19
Response and Counselor to the President (COVID-19
Response Coordinator) or his designee. The Testing
Board shall include representatives from executive
departments and agencies (agencies) that are designated
by the President. The heads of agencies so designated
shall designate officials from their respective
agencies to represent them on the Testing Board.
(b) Mission and Functions. To support the
implementation and oversight of the policy laid out in
section 1 of this order, the Testing Board shall:
(i) coordinate Federal Government efforts to promote COVID-19 diagnostic,
screening, and surveillance testing;
(ii) make recommendations to the President with respect to prioritizing the
Federal Government's assistance to State, local, Tribal, and territorial
authorities, in order to expand testing and reduce disparities in access to
testing;
(iii) identify barriers to access and use of testing in, and coordinate
Federal Government efforts to increase testing for:
(A) priority populations, including healthcare workers and other
essential workers;
(B) communities with major shortages in testing availability and use;
(C) at-risk settings, including long-term care facilities, correctional
facilities, immigration custodial settings, detention facilities, schools,
child care settings, and food processing and manufacturing facilities; and
(D) high-risk groups, including people experiencing homelessness,
migrants, and seasonal workers;
(iv) identify methods to expand State, local, Tribal, and territorial
capacity to conduct testing, contact tracing, and isolation and quarantine,
in order for schools, businesses, and travel to be conducted safely;
(v) provide guidance on how to enhance the clarity, consistency, and
transparency of Federal Government communication with the public about the
goals and purposes of testing;
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(vi) identify options for the Federal Government to maximize testing
capacity of commercial labs and academic labs; and
(vii) propose short- and long-term reforms for the Federal Government to:
increase State, local, Tribal, and territorial capacity to conduct testing;
expand genomic sequencing; and improve the effectiveness and speed of the
Federal Government's response to future pandemics and other biological
emergencies.
(d) The Chair of the Testing Board shall coordinate
with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)
and the heads of other relevant agencies or their
designees, as necessary, to ensure that the Testing
Board's work is coordinated with the Public Health
Emergency Countermeasures Enterprise within HHS.
Sec. 3. Actions to Address the Cost of COVID-19
Testing. (a) The Secretary of the Treasury, the
Secretary of HHS, and the Secretary of Labor, in
coordination with the COVID-19 Response Coordinator,
shall promptly, and as appropriate and consistent with
applicable law:
(i) facilitate the provision of COVID-19 testing free of charge to those
who lack comprehensive health insurance; and
(ii) clarify group health plans' and health insurance issuers' obligations
to provide coverage for COVID-19 testing.
(b) The Secretary of HHS, the Secretary of
Education, and the Secretary of Homeland Security,
through the Administrator of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the
COVID-19 Response Coordinator, shall promptly, and as
appropriate and consistent with applicable law:
(i) provide support for surveillance tests for settings such as schools;
and
(ii) expand equitable access to COVID-19 testing.
Sec. 4. Establishing a Public Health Workforce Program.
(a) The Secretary of HHS and the Secretary of Labor
shall promptly consult with State, local, Tribal, and
territorial leaders to understand the challenges they
face in pandemic response efforts, including challenges
recruiting and training sufficient personnel to ensure
adequate and equitable community-based testing, and
testing in schools and high-risk settings.
(b) The Secretary of HHS shall, as appropriate and
consistent with applicable law, as soon as practicable:
(i) provide technical support to State, local, Tribal, and territorial
public health agencies with respect to testing and contact-tracing efforts;
and
(ii) assist such authorities in the training of public health workers. This
may include technical assistance to non-Federal public health workforces in
connection with testing, contact tracing, and mass vaccinations, as well as
other urgent public health workforce needs, such as combating opioid use.
(c) The Secretary of HHS shall submit to the
President, through the COVID-19 Response Coordinator,
the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
(APDP), and the Assistant to the President for National
Security Affairs (APNSA), a plan detailing:
(i) how the Secretary of HHS would deploy personnel in response to future
high-consequence public health threats; and
(ii) five-year targets and budget requirements for achieving a sustainable
public health workforce, as well as options for expanding HHS capacity,
such as by expanding the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and
Epidemic Intelligence Service, so that the Department can better respond to
future pandemics and other biological threats.
(d) The Secretary of HHS, the Secretary of Homeland
Security, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of
Education, and the Chief Executive Officer of the
Corporation for National and Community Service, in
coordination with the COVID-19 Response Coordinator,
the APDP, and the APNSA, shall
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submit a plan to the President for establishing a
national contact tracing and COVID-19 public health
workforce program, to be known as the U.S. Public
Health Job Corps, which shall be modeled on or
developed as a component of the FEMA Corps program.
Such plan shall include means by which the U.S. Public
Health Job Corps can be part of the National Civilian
Community Corps program, as well as recommendations
about whether it would be appropriate for the U.S.
Public Health Job Corps to immediately assign personnel
from any of the agencies involved in the creation of
the plan, including existing AmeriCorps members, to
join or aid the U.S. Public Health Job Corps. The U.S.
Public Health Job Corps will:
(i) conduct and train individuals in contact tracing related to the COVID-
19 pandemic;
(ii) assist in outreach for vaccination efforts, including by administering
vaccination clinics;
(iii) assist with training programs for State, local, Tribal, and
territorial governments to provide testing, including in schools; and
(iv) provide other necessary services to Americans affected by the COVID-19
pandemic.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 21, 2021.
[FR Doc. 2021-01854
Filed 1-25-21; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F1-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 26, 2021.
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