S 236 117th Congress Senate Health Administrative law and regulatory procedures Cardiovascular and respiratory health Department of Health and Human Services Emergency medical services and trauma care Food assistance and relief Genetics Government information and archives Health information and medical records Health programs administration and funding Housing supply and affordability Infectious and parasitic diseases Intergovernmental relations Medical research Mental health Minority health Public-private cooperation Racial and ethnic relations Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination State and local government operations

Tracking COVID–19 Variants Act

Introduced: February 4, 2021 Introduced by: Baldwin, Tammy Democratic · Wisconsin See on congress.gov

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Feb 4, 2021

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Feb 4, 2021

Introduced in Senate

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Tracking COVID-19 Variants Act

This bill expands viral genomic sequencing, disease surveillance, and other public health research activities.

Specifically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must issue guidance on the sequencing of the virus that causes COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). Additionally, the CDC must establish a program to strengthen genomic sequencing, analytics, and disease surveillance activities. As part of this program, the CDC must provide grants and technical assistance to health departments to build their capacity to carry out such activities.

Furthermore, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) must carry out a demonstration program to expand an existing program that links different federal data sets for statistical public health research, including research on food insecurity, housing instability, and other social determinants of health. In particular, the program must support linkages with the National Death Index, a database of death records maintained by the NCHS.

What's happening now February 4, 2021

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Committees of jurisdiction 1