This week, Stop TB USA, a national coalition dedicated to eliminating tuberculosis (TB), issued a national call for strengthening public health programs to fight the co-pandemics of COVID-19 and TB. The coalition points out that contact tracing, a pillar of TB control programs for decades, is critical to pushing COVID-19 and TB curves downward. Many TB programs around the U.S. are being tapped to conduct and train on contact tracing, putting pressure on already underfunded TB programs.
ATS member Randall Reves, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine said, “The Colorado Department of Public Health TB program has been cut by 4 percent at a time when we’re already working on the coronavirus response. We are living in challenging times and it’s important for all in public health to contribute. Yet, fighting two pandemics at once is having a negative impact on TB diagnosis and treatment, and a cut in funding will only make matters worse.”
