This week, March 16 – 20, the ATS held the first-ever state-based district advocacy week. Due to the COVID-19 public health crisis, ATS members and staff had to quickly transform state-based in-person meetings with members of Congress and staff to conference calls. The discussions provided ATS members and congressional members and their staff with an excellent opportunity to discuss the challenges health professionals are currently grappling with during this crisis as they care for people with respiratory and critical illness, as well as sleep disorders, including people critically ill with COVID-19. ATS members across 12 different states including Arizona, California, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Connecticut held discussions via conference call with their congressional delegations advocating for ATS priority issues including:

• Urgent federal response required to secure adequate supply of PPE, testing kits, and ventilators to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
• Increased funding for CDC to address coronavirus.
• Increased funding for NIH.
• Passage of legislation to ban flavored-tobacco products.
• Passage of legislation to combat tuberculosis (TB) in the U.S.