New, Bipartisan COVID-19 Relief Agreement Includes Cox Request for Detailed Geographic, Demographic Info on Testing

The new COVID-19 relief bill, passed by the Senate on Tuesday and which the House is expected to approve on Thursday, mandates a study on COVID-19 testing across the country, including specific information on demography and geography. This follows a letter by Reps. TJ Cox (CA-21) and Norma Torres (CA-35), which points out dangerous weaknesses in the administration’s plans to assign different counties risk ratings based on severity of COVID-19 prevalence, due to the fact that many rural districts lack complete data on COVID-19 infections. The letter asks the federal government to provide the resources necessary to overcome this testing deficit.

In order to address this issue, the new bipartisan agreement mandates a report on testing data based on demographic characteristics, including geographic region. This could potentially help us find out if Central Valley communities have the resources to complete enough tests in order to provide usable data to aid reopening of the economy. 

From the bill:

“...a report from the Secretary of HHS, no later than 21 days after the date of enactment, on COVID-19 testing that will include data on demographic characteristics, including in a de-identified and disaggregated manner, race, ethnicity, age, sex, geographic region, and other relevant factors of individuals tested for or diagnosed with COVID-19. The report shall also include information on the number and rates of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as a result of COVID-19. This report shall be updated and resubmitted every 30 days following until the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.”

Read the full letter text here