In an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus and put Americans back to work, two Democratic senators are looking to build a “Health Force.”
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo. put forth their plan Wednesday. The legislation entails recruiting, training and employing unemployed Americans in public health and healthcare careers, NBC News reports.
The senators said the bill is a modern-day version of the Works Progress Administration, or WPA, which put millions of Americans to work building the country’s infrastructure after the Great Depression.
Gillibrand said the goal of the health force would be to give hundreds of thousands of Americans jobs to respond to the coronavirus outbreak "and meet existing and emerging public health needs," according to NBC.
"In the face of this unprecedented crisis, Congress must harness American patriotism, resilience, and ingenuity by establishing a Health Force to combat this deadly virus," Gillibrand said in a statement.
Bennet and Gillibrand said the health force would be trained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and managed by local and state health departments. Workers would conduct diagnostic testing, contact tracing and administer a vaccine for COVID-19, when one becomes available.
Workers could also perform other tasks, including public messaging that would debunk virus-related misinformation, providing data entry in support of epidemic surveillance, delivering food and medical supplies to those whose health is high risk, and providing hospice and end-of-life care.
How many workers the force would need and what it would cost to recruit, train and hire them was not made clear.
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