County PPE spending tops $100,000

<p>Although the spread of COVID-19 has somewhat slowed, Johnson County leaders are still actively pursuing personal protective equipment and supplies needed to fight the virus in hopes of creating a stockpile in case there is a resurgence. </p><p>The Johnson County Council on Monday allocated $50,000 to the county’s Emergency Management Agency and $25,000 to the Johnson County Health Department. These allocations are in addition to requests of $10,000 each the last two months. The county has disbursed $105,000 total since mid-March when the virus first appeared in the county.</p><p>The county council asked department heads to estimate how much it would cost to cover immediate needs and prepare a stockpile of supplies. </p><p>For the EMA, the $50,000 will continue to fulfill immediate PPE and cleaning supply needs of county offices, and assist police and fire department throughout the county. It will also cover the cost of ordering extra supplies to be set aside for future use, said Stephanie Sichting, EMA director. The EMA will also coordinate larger purchases, such as an indoor disinfectant sprayer to sanitize county buildings, she said.</p><p>“Everyone says that this will come back after summer,” Sichting said. “So we want to be prepared so we are not scrambling like we were this time.”</p><p>The health department’s $25,000 will help long-term care facilities meet immediate needs and develop a stockpile for future use, said Betsy Swearingen, health department director. Additional money from annual preparedness grants will also be used to purchase PPE, she said. </p><p>The Johnson County Joint Incident Management Team, a task force comprised of health care and public safety leaders from around the county, still meets everyday to share information about the COVID-19 situation, Sichting said.</p><p>“When (first responders) get calls for sick people, or they go into nursing homes, they are still wearing (PPE),” Sichting said. “(Demand) has slowed way down, but they are still using them.”</p><p>For long-term care facilities, the immediate need remains significant, Swearingen said. All local long-term care facilities continue to take precautions, and several are caring for infected residents, she said.</p><p>Both departments had already spent previous allocations when they made the new requests Monday. Sichting said the EMA actually overspent by about $5,000, but was able to cover the difference with her county credit card until more money came through. </p><p>The $105,000—and any additional spending up to $5 million—will be covered by either the CARES Act or the Public Assistance Grant Program, both made available to local communities by the federal government. That money will be in the form of reimbursements that will be disbursed to counties once receipts proving expenditures are submitted, Sichting said.</p><p>The county has not yet been reimbursed for any coronavirus-related expenditures to date. </p><p>Some county departments have purchased their own supplies and will be eligible for reimbursement, Sichting said.</p><p>County departments besides the EMA, health department and Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, have spent about $13,000 on cleaning supplies, masks and new laptops for employees of the assessor’s and recorder’s offices to work remotely, she said.</p>