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Presidential Documents

Executive Order 13996 of January 21, 2021

Establishing the COVID–19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID–19
and Other Biological Threats
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3,
United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of my Administration to control coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID–19) by using a Government-wide, unified approach
that includes: establishing a national COVID–19 testing and public health
workforce strategy; working to expand the supply of tests; working to bring
test manufacturing to the United States, where possible; working to enhance
laboratory testing capacity; working to expand the public health workforce;
supporting screening testing for schools and priority populations; and ensuring a clarity of messaging about the use of tests and insurance coverage.
Sec. 2. COVID–19 Pandemic Testing Board.
(a) Establishment and Membership. There is established a COVID–19 Pandemic Testing Board (Testing Board), chaired by the Coordinator of the
COVID–19 Response and Counselor to the President (COVID–19 Response
Coordinator) or his designee. The Testing Board shall include representatives
from executive departments and agencies (agencies) that are designated by
the President. The heads of agencies so designated shall designate officials
from their respective agencies to represent them on the Testing Board.
(b) Mission and Functions. To support the implementation and oversight
of the policy laid out in section 1 of this order, the Testing Board shall:
(i) coordinate Federal Government efforts to promote COVID–19 diagnostic,
screening, and surveillance testing;
(ii) make recommendations to the President with respect to prioritizing
the Federal Government’s assistance to State, local, Tribal, and territorial
authorities, in order to expand testing and reduce disparities in access
to testing;
(iii) identify barriers to access and use of testing in, and coordinate Federal
Government efforts to increase testing for:
(A) priority populations, including healthcare workers and other essential
workers;
(B) communities with major shortages in testing availability and use;
(C) at-risk settings, including long-term care facilities, correctional facilities, immigration custodial settings, detention facilities, schools, child care
settings, and food processing and manufacturing facilities; and
(D) high-risk groups, including people experiencing homelessness, migrants, and seasonal workers;
(iv) identify methods to expand State, local, Tribal, and territorial capacity
to conduct testing, contact tracing, and isolation and quarantine, in order
for schools, businesses, and travel to be conducted safely;
(v) provide guidance on how to enhance the clarity, consistency, and
transparency of Federal Government communication with the public about
the goals and purposes of testing;

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(vi) identify options for the Federal Government to maximize testing capacity of commercial labs and academic labs; and
(vii) propose short- and long-term reforms for the Federal Government
to: increase State, local, Tribal, and territorial capacity to conduct testing;
expand genomic sequencing; and improve the effectiveness and speed
of the Federal Government’s response to future pandemics and other biological emergencies.
(d) The Chair of the Testing Board shall coordinate with the Secretary
of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the heads of other relevant agencies
or their designees, as necessary, to ensure that the Testing Board’s work
is coordinated with the Public Health Emergency Countermeasures Enterprise
within HHS.
Sec. 3. Actions to Address the Cost of COVID–19 Testing. (a) The Secretary
of the Treasury, the Secretary of HHS, and the Secretary of Labor, in coordination with the COVID–19 Response Coordinator, shall promptly, and as appropriate and consistent with applicable law:
(i) facilitate the provision of COVID–19 testing free of charge to those
who lack comprehensive health insurance; and
(ii) clarify group health plans’ and health insurance issuers’ obligations
to provide coverage for COVID–19 testing.
(b) The Secretary of HHS, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary
of Homeland Security, through the Administrator of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the COVID–19 Response
Coordinator, shall promptly, and as appropriate and consistent with applicable law:
(i) provide support for surveillance tests for settings such as schools;
and
(ii) expand equitable access to COVID–19 testing.
Sec. 4. Establishing a Public Health Workforce Program. (a) The Secretary
of HHS and the Secretary of Labor shall promptly consult with State, local,
Tribal, and territorial leaders to understand the challenges they face in
pandemic response efforts, including challenges recruiting and training sufficient personnel to ensure adequate and equitable community-based testing,
and testing in schools and high-risk settings.
(b) The Secretary of HHS shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, as soon as practicable:
(i) provide technical support to State, local, Tribal, and territorial public
health agencies with respect to testing and contact-tracing efforts; and
(ii) assist such authorities in the training of public health workers. This
may include technical assistance to non-Federal public health workforces
in connection with testing, contact tracing, and mass vaccinations, as
well as other urgent public health workforce needs, such as combating
opioid use.
(c) The Secretary of HHS shall submit to the President, through the COVID–
19 Response Coordinator, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
(APDP), and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
(APNSA), a plan detailing:
(i) how the Secretary of HHS would deploy personnel in response to
future high-consequence public health threats; and
(ii) five-year targets and budget requirements for achieving a sustainable
public health workforce, as well as options for expanding HHS capacity,
such as by expanding the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
and Epidemic Intelligence Service, so that the Department can better respond to future pandemics and other biological threats.
(d) The Secretary of HHS, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary
of Labor, the Secretary of Education, and the Chief Executive Officer of
the Corporation for National and Community Service, in coordination with
the COVID–19 Response Coordinator, the APDP, and the APNSA, shall

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submit a plan to the President for establishing a national contact tracing
and COVID–19 public health workforce program, to be known as the U.S.
Public Health Job Corps, which shall be modeled on or developed as a
component of the FEMA Corps program. Such plan shall include means
by which the U.S. Public Health Job Corps can be part of the National
Civilian Community Corps program, as well as recommendations about
whether it would be appropriate for the U.S. Public Health Job Corps to
immediately assign personnel from any of the agencies involved in the
creation of the plan, including existing AmeriCorps members, to join or
aid the U.S. Public Health Job Corps. The U.S. Public Health Job Corps
will:
(i) conduct and train individuals in contact tracing related to the COVID–
19 pandemic;
(ii) assist in outreach for vaccination efforts, including by administering
vaccination clinics;
(iii) assist with training programs for State, local, Tribal, and territorial
governments to provide testing, including in schools; and
(iv) provide other necessary services to Americans affected by the COVID–
19 pandemic.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed
to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency,
or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and
subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit,
substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party
against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers,
employees, or agents, or any other person.

THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 21, 2021.
[FR Doc. 2021–01854

Billing code 3295–F1–P

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