As of 1st October 2020, over 2,000 incarcerated individuals and over 700 employees in the US correctional facilities had been infected with COVID-19. As a result, the Federal Correctional Facilities COVID-19 response Act was introduced on 2nd February 2021 to the senate (Federal Correctional Facilities COVID19 Response Act, 2021). The bill was introduced to curb inefficiencies noted in correctional facilities regarding testing and timely reporting of COVID-19 cases. Due to the desperate situation witnessed on a worldwide level, the Act will require correctional facilities to assess and conduct weekly COVID-19 testing and prior reporting to the relevant authorities. Centers for CDC will also be required in various correctional facilities with qualified officials to aid in managing and controlling further outbreaks on the same. Additionally, the CDC officials will be required to perform basic education on maintaining safety guidelines and ensure the Attorney General has submitted reports regularly to Congress on the developing and current efforts of combating COVID-19 in the correctional facilities.
The proposed bill is satisfactory enough to guarantee its relevancy in the community due to the worrying numbers witnessed in the state daily. The policy effectiveness feasibility loop (PEFL) amalgamates epidemiological modeling, local situation formulation, and policy option appraisal in fully involving policymakers (ODonnell et al., 2017). The COVID-19 pandemic presents more than enough prevalence and rising death tolls that calls for immediate countermeasures for prevention that would reduce costs and associated overpopulation in hospitals that consequently, puts the patients at more risk. Evidence-based research led to the health policy that advocated for vaccination of children under the age of two years. This was due to the prevalence of attacks such as measles and tuberculosis as early as six-month-old babies (Miller et al., 2020). The case of the proposed Act has been documented by literature that affects public safety and wellbeing. The evidence presented is not just hearsay, but rather derived from trending and documented data that is analyzed and determined accordingly by relevant professionals in the field. Additionally, the Federal Correctional Facilities COVID-19 response Act could be a stepping stone for collective intervention measures in terms of budget and personnel allocation along with the development of a long-lasting solution, such as the case with developed vaccines on the same (Williams et al., 2020).
