Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats
The order creates the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board to coordinate federal testing efforts and directs multiple cabinet agencies to address testing costs, expand the public health workforce, and develop a plan for a new U.S. Public Health Job Corps modeled on the FEMA Corps program.
It reflects the Biden administration's opening push to centralize pandemic response coordination and build long-term public health infrastructure capable of responding to future biological threats.
What this order does
What it orders
The order establishes the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board, chaired by the COVID-19 Response Coordinator, to coordinate federal diagnostic, screening, and surveillance testing efforts, identify access barriers for priority and at-risk populations, and recommend short- and long-term reforms to strengthen pandemic response capacity. It directs the Secretaries of Treasury, HHS, and Labor to facilitate free COVID-19 testing for the uninsured and clarify health plan coverage obligations. It directs HHS, Education, and DHS through FEMA to expand equitable testing access and support school surveillance testing.
It also requires HHS to provide technical assistance and workforce training to state, local, tribal, and territorial health agencies, and submit a plan for deploying personnel and achieving a sustainable five-year public health workforce. Multiple secretaries are directed to jointly submit a plan for establishing the U.S. Public Health Job Corps — a national contact tracing and vaccination outreach program modeled on FEMA Corps — which may incorporate existing AmeriCorps members.
Who it affects
Uninsured Americans seeking COVID-19 testing, health insurers and group health plans, state and local public health agencies receiving federal support, schools and high-risk facilities such as long-term care and correctional facilities, and existing AmeriCorps members who may be assigned to the Public Health Job Corps.
Why it matters
Uninsured individuals gain a federal directive aimed at ensuring they can access free testing. Schools and high-risk settings receive prioritized federal support. Longer term, the order lays groundwork for a new public health workforce program that could employ thousands and expand contact tracing and vaccination outreach capacity nationwide.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The Testing Board operates under the COVID-19 Response Coordinator and coordinates with HHS's Public Health Emergency Countermeasures Enterprise. Agencies designated by the President send representatives to the Board, which makes recommendations but does not directly regulate or enforce. Concrete agency actions — free testing facilitation, insurance clarification, school testing support — are directed "promptly" without fixed calendar deadlines. The Public Health Job Corps plan must be submitted to the President through the COVID-19 Response Coordinator, the Domestic Policy Advisor, and the National Security Advisor, but no submission deadline is set. Implementation is subject to appropriations availability, limiting enforcement leverage.
Actions and deadlines
- Facilitate provision of free COVID-19 testing for people lacking comprehensive health insurance
- Clarify group health plans' and insurers' obligations to cover COVID-19 testing
- Provide support for surveillance testing in school settings and expand equitable testing access
- Consult with state, local, tribal, and territorial leaders on pandemic response workforce challenges
- Provide technical support and training assistance to non-federal public health workforces for testing and contact tracing
- Submit to the President a plan for deploying HHS personnel in future public health emergencies and five-year workforce targets
- Submit a plan to the President for establishing the U.S. Public Health Job Corps, including recommendations on using existing AmeriCorps members