Posted on December 8th, 2022.

Delaware Gov. John Carney, U.S. Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (all D-Del.) recently announced that Delaware will receive $11,021,366 from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to strengthen the First State’s public health workforce and infrastructure.

Nationwide, the CDC is awarding $3.2 billion to help state, local and territorial jurisdictions across the United States to provide the people, services and systems needed to promote and protect health in U.S. communities. That includes $3 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act, legislation championed by Carper, Coons and Blunt Rochester, for jurisdictions to recruit, retain and train their workforce, including critical frontline public health workers, such as epidemiologists, contact tracers, laboratory scientists, community health workers and data analysts.

“Our public health workers have an important role in our state, and we are grateful for the services they provide to help keep Delawareans healthy,” said Carney. “The last few years highlighted the impact that our public health team can make in our communities. These federal funds will strengthen Delaware’s public health system, and enable us to recruit and train more workers to deliver key services across our state. Thank you to the CDC and to our congressional delegation for this funding, and for supporting Delaware’s public health infrastructure.”

“The pandemic has shown us just how important strong and durable public health care infrastructure is in the First State,” said Carper. “This funding — made possibly by the American Rescue Plan that I was proud to support — will go toward retaining and attracting employees into this critical sector of our workforce. As our public health systems face continuous obstacles, I am grateful that our state will be able to take the steps necessary to ensure Delaware is resilient against all future health crises.”

“When I welcomed U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to Delaware last week to speak directly with healthcare providers, we heard how healthcare providers have grappled with the turmoil of the past few years, and how those challenges have been shared by their colleagues in public health,” said Coons. “This grant provides the funding necessary to strengthen public health and will equip those working in our healthcare community here in Delaware and throughout our nation with the resources these workers need to properly support the communities that they so proudly serve.”

“Maintaining public health is essential to the wellbeing of our state, and Delaware’s Division of Public Health (DPH) is front and center in this charge,” said Blunt Rochester, a member of the House Health Subcommittee. “Today’s grant announcement from the CDC will infuse federal dollars, including funds from the American Rescue Plan that Sen. Carper, Sen. Coons and I championed, into DPH to strengthen and expand its public health infrastructure.

“With this funding, DPH will focus on the recruitment, retention and training of its workforce so that its reach can be expanded across the state to administer vital public health services to more Delawareans. I’m proud to have played a part in bringing this funding to Delaware and look forward to how it will strengthen DPH’s efforts to keep our communities healthy.”

“We are grateful to CDC and our congressional delegation for continuing to support the critical work of our public health team, which works tirelessly day in and day out to serve and protect the residents of our state,” said Department of Health & Social Services Secretary Molly Magarik. “This additional federal funding will allow us to expand our current public health workforce, build on the enhanced infrastructure we were able to put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and strengthen our capabilities to ensure we are able to rapidly respond to any emerging health threat in the future.”

Text and image source: The Coastal Point.