On Friday, March 20, the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) published a press release highlighting the critical role of the STD workforce in responding to COVID-19 and calling for an increase in funding for STD prevention to bolster the response to the both the COVID-19 and STD crises.
According to the statement, more than half of STD disease investigation specialists (DIS) have been redeployed for COVID-19, and up to half of STD clinics are closed or repurposed as state and local public health respond to COVID-19. NCSD calls on Congress to immediately increase funding for STD prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by $50 million to support the hiring of an additional 500 DIS across the country. To read the full press release, visit here.
On Monday, March 23, NCSD published an update to their previous press release, based on additional information regarding the impact of coronavirus on STD public health programs. The vast majority of DIS other STD public health workers have been redeployed to fight coronavirus, and consequently NCSD is now calling on Congress to allocate $200 million to CDC’s Division of STD Prevention to strengthen and expand the public health workforce.
