FEMA Awards More Than $33 Million to Massachusetts for COVID-19 Costs

BOSTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be sending more than $26 million to Massachusetts to reimburse it for some of the administrative costs incurred responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also send more than $7 million to the Commonwealth to reimburse the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services for the costs of providing testing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) will receive a total of $26,077,698 in federal funding through FEMA’s Public Assistance grant program to reimburse the cost of administering grants FEMA provided to the Commonwealth for such expenses as testing, sheltering, and providing meals to vulnerable populations. The administrative costs are calculated as a percentage of the grants provided.

A second $7,029,907 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the agency for contracting with Fallon Ambulance Co. to provide 24,421 COVID tests between September 2020 and December 2021 at group homes it operated across the Commonwealth, as well as the cost of obtaining and transporting specimens from individuals at these sites between April and August 2020.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Massachusetts with these costs,” FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich said. “Providing resources for our partners on the front lines of the pandemic fight is critical to their success, and our success as a nation.”

FEMA’s Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency. So far, FEMA has provided more than $1.3 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the Commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.