The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Define eligible
Officials concern grows as FEMA’s requirements for COVID reimbursement shift
A shift in pandemic-related costs for which the federal government will reimburse states has left Connecticut officials in the dark on how much money can be recouped, and concerned about damage to the state’s effort to combat COVID-19.
The move by the Federal Emergency Management Agency could cost the state millions and, more importantly, is “inconsistent with the goal of stopping or slowing the spread” of COVID-19, a top Connecticut emergency management official said.
At the heart of the shift, according to Brenda Bergeron, is the definition of “eligible protective measures.”
When a federal emergency is declared, states like Connecticut are able to recoup 75 percent of costs related to protective measures. On Sept. 1, FEMA told states that when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, only costs related to direct actions are eligible.
“They just added this concept of ‘emergency protective measures that deal with emergency protective actions,’” said Bergeron, the principal attorney and planning coordinator for the Connecticut Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. “They’ve added another layer of complexity to the eligibility requirements.”
Practically, that means the cost of masks for firefighters would be eligible for reimbursement, but the cost of masks for teachers would not.
“Testing of members of the public” would likely not be an eligible cost, FEMA told Connecticut in response to a request for clarification, nor would the cost of temperature screening at public buildings, face masks for the public or any personal protective equipment necessary “for school-teachers, election poll workers, town or city clerks, public works employees, medical staff and all other government employees to perform their day-to-day duties.”
“Even the things that were considered eligible, this policy greatly restricts the eligibility of what I think of as common sense protecting measures,” Bergeron
said, arguing that the FEMA’s redefinition works against the state’s efforts to stop COVID-19.
“You can’t stop a pandemic by only having PPE be eligible if it’s worn by a first responder or someone in a similar function,” she said. “It’s not logical.”
In an emailed response, FEMA said the agency “has already approved more than $35 billion in support of COVID-19 response efforts.”
“FEMA will continue to support the reimbursement of costs required in response to the pandemic for medical care, non-congregate medical sheltering, emergency operations centers for COVID, and other eligible emergency services as listed in the policy,” an agency spokesperson said. “This includes the cost of supplies and equipment necessary to carry out eligible emergency work, such as personal protective equipment.”
Bergeron confirmed that overtime costs for some employees, and the costs related to medical surge facilities are most likely eligible.
The state has begun to send some requests for reimbursement to FEMA and, theoretically, the disaster-related cost of the pandemic could be astronomical.
For example, Connecticut has received a total of $61,059,354.13 in reimbursed costs from FEMA for damage from hurricane Sandy in 2012.
That disaster had an incident period of a bit more than a week, Oct. 27 through Nov. 8.
For the storm on May 15, 2018, a oneday incident period, the state recouped $16,727,174.
For the severe winter storm on Feb. 8 2013, a three-day incident period, the state was reimbursed $31,099,393.
The incident period for the coronavirus pandemic began January 20, 2020, as set by FEMA, and is ongoing. The pandemic has so far resulted in more than 54,000 positive cases in Connecticut, and
4,480 deaths to date.
“It is unusual to not know at least an estimated amount that the state and its sub-applicants will be receiving from FEMA, nine months into a disaster,” Bergeron said. “Of course, this situation is unusual to begin with because the disaster is still ongoing nine months later, which is unprecedented. Usually, we have a disaster event that lasts a day or two or even a number of weeks, but then it is over.”
As of this week, the state has requested reimbursement of $700,000 in costs related to the pandemic from FEMA, but Bergeron still has no idea what the final total will be, in part because the agency keeps moving the goalpost.
“My gut instinct is that it should be very large..I don’t know what they will consider eligible,” she said. “What is making it so difficult to quantify FEMA aid in this disaster, however, is that FEMA has in effect changed the eligibility rules mid-disaster.”
There are other sources of funding. There is money coming to the state from the CARES Act, and from the federal Department of Agriculture, among other pools of cash. In addition, FEMA itself is distributing thousands of face masks to Connecticut schools this week.
When all is said and done, Bergeron said it’s possible that FEMA’s portion of funding might be smaller than what the state recouped after Superstorm Sandy.
The state has conceded some of FEMA’s new policies “so that you can at least get some money back to the towns,” Bergeron said, though they are attempting to argue that anything done to prevent or slow the progress of a life-threatening virus is a direct action that saves lives. “It’s the beginning of a long process.”
And it’s not just Connecticut. FEMA’s redefinition affects how much in disaster funding every state
“It’s becoming an issue at the national level,” Bergeron said.