By Kevin Lucia, Sara Rosenbaum, Sabrina Corlette, and Madeline O’Brien

The Trump administration has largely delegated COVID-19 testing to states while denying them additional funding to implement a comprehensive testing strategy. This has left states — in the midst of their own budget crises — to decide how to target, administer, and finance asymptomatic COVID-19 testing for essential workers in high-risk industries that require close human contact. These include long-term care, childcare, food retail, farming, and food production. These jobs tend to be low-paid and workers often lack insurance. Furthermore, many are members of racial and ethnic minorities — the very people who have borne the greatest health burdens during the pandemic.

Some states have already recommended or required testing of some asymptomatic workers in high-risk workplaces. Left to go it alone, states approaches will vary significantly.  In a recent To the Point post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR experts teamed up with Sara Rosenbaum of George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health to identify considerations and challenges for state policymakers. You can read the full post here.