It turns out that it’s extremely expensive for counties to do battle with a deadly pandemic, but it also turns out that, when it comes to deadly pandemics, the federal government and state governments are willing to help bear the cost.
On Thursday, April 1, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on accepting $1,258,678 in federal and state funds for the Public Health Division of the Guilford County Department of Health and Human Services.
The money, to help the county cover the costs of its massive immunization effort, is being awarded through the Immunization Branch for COVID-19 of the NC Division of Public Health’s Women’s and Children’s Health Section.
The Board of Commissioners has seen a lot of this type of financial help in 2020 and 2021 in its battle against the coronavirus. Last year, the county received over $93 million to help, and, in 2020, the county will get over $100 million from the new federal coronavirus relief and stimulus package.
When the pandemic first became a local reality in early 2020, Guilford County commissioners and county budget staff were extremely concerned about the potential impact of the massive costs to the county – however, they didn’t know at that time that there would be so much help from the federal government and the State of North Carolina.
Guilford County is even seeing some help from its citizens. Also on the agenda for the board’s April 1 meeting is a rare item – a move to approve an increase of $1,000 in the “Other Revenues” line of the Guilford County Emergency Services budget, due to a donation to the department from a private citizen.
