DES MOINES — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds announced that she is allocating an additional $28 million in direct relief to Iowa’s hospitals and local county health departments to help manage increased needs due to COVID-19. The funding comes from the $1.25 billion in federal CARES Act funds allocated to the state.
“As COVID-19 continues to impact Iowans, it is putting strain on both staffing at our hospitals as well as local public health departments,” Gov. Reynolds said. “These added funds will provide much-needed relief to hospitals to support their staffing needs in this critical time. They will also support Iowa’s county health departments, which are facing continued and ongoing increases in workload.”
Of the direct relief announced, $25 million will be allocated to hospitals to address staffing needs. The funds will be allocated prorated based on average hospital census over the months of September and October. An additional $3 million will be distributed to local county health departments based on a per capita basis.
“All across the northern United States, we are seeing a consistent uptick in new cases of COVID-19,” said Gov. Reynolds. “It’s especially important that Iowans take every precaution possible to slow the community spread of COVID-19, whether that means wearing a mask in public, social distancing or simply staying home. We all need to do our part to curb that spread.”