The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new details on community mitigation, as part of the White House Task Force’s plan to “get and keep America open.”
The guidelines, posted overnight Friday on the CDC website, outline steps persons can take to help slow the transmission of the virus.
New concepts include emphasizing personal responsibility and tailoring strategies to target specific populations.
“Mitigation strategies can be scaled up or down depending on the evolving local situation,” the CDC said on its website. “When developing mitigation plans, communities should identify ways to ensure the safety and social well-being of groups that may be especially impacted by mitigation strategies, including individuals at increased risk for severe illness.”
Regarding financial resources, the CDC said it has awarded nearly $730 million in funding to carry out surveillance, epidemiology, laboratory capacity, infection control, mitigation, communications and other preparedness and response activities.
The CDC says it has “500 existing field staff embedded in state, tribal, local and territorial health agencies, most of whom have pivoted to support the COVID-19 response.”
Community protection teams are being sent to eight states to conduct contact tracing. The eight states include:
- Alaska
- Idaho
- Kentucky
- New Mexico
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Rapid testing on a wide scale and contract-tracing to quickly isolate outbreaks are widely considered to be necessary to reopen the economy.
When asked in what capacity the CDC teams would be working, a federal health official with knowledge of the community protection initiative said they will be “testing new technologies,” including “having people do self-swabbing and evaluating how effective that is. They are also looking at some mobile technology to look at contact tracing.”