the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Washington DC, the US is concurrently responding to and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, with an ongoing national vaccination campaign and widespread loosening of public health measures amid a recent increase in cases. Recognizing this balance as “fragile,” the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) on July 19 released its 7th comprehensive report on the COVID-19 pandemic, providing an additional 15 recommendations to various US government agencies. Previous reports included a total of 72 recommendations on COVID-19, with agencies agreeing to implement 57 of them and having fully implemented 16 to date.
The most recent report makes several recommendations related to national pandemic preparedness, including advice to the CDC to develop a plan to enhance surge capacity for laboratory testing and establish contracts for the manufacturing and deployment of diagnostic test kits prior to public health emergencies. The GAO also made suggestions to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) regarding the organization and oversight of the country’s Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), which provides medical supplies and other materials to respond to a broad range of emergencies. Several other recommendations relate to the oversight, timely use, and integrity of COVID-19 relief funds allocated to HHS, the US Department of Education, US Department of the Treasury, US Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). According to GAO, if effectively implemented, the recommendations “can help improve the government’s ongoing response and recovery efforts as well as help it to prepare for future public health emergencies.”
