Trump signs $8.2 billion coronavirus funding measure, per AP

By Mike Scott, mscott@stph.org

President Donald Trump on Friday morning (March 6) signed an $8.3 billion measure to help the nation’s hospitals deal with the widening of the global outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus, according to an Associated Press report.

As of Friday morning, more than 200 confirmed cases have been reported in the United States. Of those, 12 have proved fatal.

None of the confirmed cases were in Louisiana, according to St. Tammany Health System officials, who have been preparing for a potential local outbreak since the COVID-19 strain first cropped up earlier this year in China.

The bill signed Friday morning by Trump, which was approved Wednesday by the U.S. House in a bipartisan 415-2 vote and on Thursday by the U.S. Senate in a 96-1 vote, provides money for federal, state and local health agencies to respond to the threat. That includes money for immediate response, such as tests and quarantines, as well as longer-term prevention measures, such as vaccine research and potential treatments.

According to the AP report, the bill would provide:

• more than $2 billion to help federal, state and local governments prepare for and respond to potential outbreaks;
• $1.3 billion to help fight the virus overseas;
• $7 billion to subsidize small-business loans;
• $300 million to deliver coronavirus vaccines – which are in development in St. Tammany Parish and elsewhere -- to those who need it;
• and an unspecified amount to help subsidize treatment of the COVID-19 coronavirus by community health centers.

The measure triples the amount made available for coronavirus response initially proposed by the White House.

According to STHS Infection Prevention Head Leslie Kelt, the best line of personal defense for individuals is also a simple one: People should wash their hands often and for at least 20 seconds each time, or roughly the length of time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice.