NC, SC Awarded $22.7M To Aid Coronavirus Response

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded North Carolina nearly $14 million and South Carolina almost $9 million to help in response efforts for coronavirus, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday.

This is part of $560 million awarded to state and local jurisdictions Wednesday, coming from $8.3 billion appropriated as part of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act.

“Our state, local, tribal and territorial public health partners are on the front lines of the COVID-19 response,” CDC director Robert R. Redfield said in a statement. “The action we are taking today will continue to support their efforts to increase public health capacity where it’s needed most. These funds will allow public health leaders to implement critical steps necessary to contain and mitigate spread of virus in communities across the country.

The funds come one day after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency, in part to speed access to supplies and funding.

And on Wednesday, Sen. Thom Tillis and Reps. Richard Hudson and David Price sent a bipartisan letter to Vice President Mike Pence urging the administration to provide addtional resources to increase testing capacity for coronavirus in North Carolina.

As of Wednesday, seven people have presumptive positive tests in North Carolina for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

South Carolina has nine presumptive positive or confirmed cases of COVID-19.

A full state-by-state breakdown for money awarded is available here.