Grant County Health District receives $1.4 million grant

MOSES LAKE — Grant County Health District will hire eight temporary employees and provide some COVID-19 testing for uninsured people by using funds from a federal grant designed to help pay coronavirus outbreak-related expenses.

The grant is $1.4 million from the federal CARES Act, administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“I believe $1.4 million is going to see us through the end of the year,” said GCHD director Theresa Adkinson.

The money was allocated to counties and cities across the country to help with expenses related to the outbreak. Grant County received $5.4 million through the legislation, and county commissioners announced July 1 how the money would be allocated.

The health district will hire six English-Spanish speakers to work on tracing the contacts made by people who are confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases. The district will also hire a public information officer and a person to inspect restaurants and work with businesses.

Adkinson said some of the jobs have been filled. For those eight positions the grant provided about $209,000 in salaries and benefits.

About $10,000 will be available for coronavirus testing. In the grant application, Adkinson said testing is required as soon as possible after a coronavirus case has been identified. Some of the people who required testing didn’t have insurance, she said.

The grant also provided about $10,000 for video-conferencing equipment.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].