The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $1.4 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse Boston University for the cost of paying employees to staff an on-campus testing laboratory during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $1,430,755 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the private research university in Boston for the cost of paying 53 existing staff for 39,640 hours to operate the school’s inhouse testing program between July 2021 and June 2022.
Boston University set up its own testing program that included both collection sites at its three campuses as well as a testing laboratory that was able to process over 5,000 tests per day and deliver results within 24 hours.
“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Boston University with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Reimbursing state, county, and municipal governments – as well as eligible non-profits and tribal entities – for the costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important part of our nation’s ongoing recovery.”
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 $2.8 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.