Delaware Covid-19 Pandemic
Incident Period: Jan 20, 2020 - May 11, 2023
Declaration Date: Apr 5, 2020
Quick Links
- Recovery resources: State & Local | National
- Connect: Social Media | Mobile App & Text
- 24/7 counseling: Disaster Distress Helpline

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More About This Disaster
Help for Individuals and Families After a Disaster
If you have insurance, you should file a claim with your insurance company immediately. FEMA assistance cannot help with losses already covered by insurance.
Apply for Disaster Assistance
The fastest way to apply is through DisasterAssistance.gov. You can also apply through the FEMA mobile app or by calling the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362. If you use a video relay service, captioned telephone service, or other communication services, please provide FEMA the specific number assigned for that service.
Learn more about the application process
Get Immediate Help
Find help with needs that FEMA is not authorized to provide. Check with your local emergency management officials, voluntary agencies or by dialing your local 2-1-1. The FEMA Helpline (800-621-3362) may be able to provide additional referrals. If you use a video relay service, captioned telephone service, or other communication services, please provide FEMA the specific number assigned for that service.
I Was Told to Call the U.S. Small Business Administration
FEMA is not allowed to provide disaster assistance for certain losses covered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loans. The SBA provides low-interest disaster loans to individuals and households to help with disaster losses. FEMA works with the SBA to determine if you may qualify for Personal Property Assistance, Transportation Assistance, or a Group Flood Insurance Policy.
FEMA will automatically refer you to the SBA to be considered for a disaster loan if you meet SBA’s income standards. FEMA uses your household annual gross income and number of dependents to determine if you should be referred to the SBA.
If you are referred to the SBA, FEMA will contact you via an auto-dialer system to explain how to apply for a disaster loan. You must complete and return a loan application to be considered for an SBA loan or certain types of FEMA assistance. You do not have to accept an SBA loan offer. However, if you are approved for an SBA loan, and you do not accept it, you will not be referred back to FEMA for personal property or transportation assistance.
For more information about the SBA disaster loan program, please call the SBA at 800-659-2955 (TTY: 800-877-8339). SBA information is also available at www.SBA.gov/disaster or by email at disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.
Learn more about SBA loans
I Applied for Assistance. What's Next?
If You Have Insurance
Please contact your insurance company as soon as possible to file a claim. FEMA can only provide money after you get your insurance settlement. If your insurance doesn’t cover all of your home repair or rebuilding expenses, FEMA may be able to help.
FEMA can’t provide money for expenses covered by insurance or duplicate benefits from another source. When you get your insurance settlement or denial, please send a copy to FEMA as soon as you can.
If your insurance settlement is delayed more than 30 days from the time you file your claim, call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362.
Learn more about the steps after applying
If You Do Not Have Insurance
FEMA will verify your disaster-caused losses. The agency will schedule a time to inspect your home if you reported damage to your home or personal property. Or FEMA will ask you to send documents to verify your expenses.
You will receive notification letters from FEMA either by mail or electronic correspondence explaining your next steps. If necessary based on the losses you reported, an inspector will contact you by phone to schedule an inspection. If you miss the call, they will leave a voicemail message and make multiple attempts to reach you. The inspector should not need to view repair receipts or pictures of the damage. But if you begin cleaning up before the inspection, FEMA suggests you take pictures, make a list of your losses, and keep receipts for all of your disaster-caused expenses.
"Help After a Disaster" Brochures
Translated into 27 languages, the "Help After a Disaster" brochure is a tool that can be shared in your community to help people understand the types of FEMA assistance that may be available to support individuals and families in disaster recovery.
Citizenship and FEMA Eligibility
FEMA is committed to helping all eligible disaster survivors recover, including U.S. citizens, non-citizen nationals and qualified aliens. Learn more about Citizenship and Immigration Status Requirements for federal public benefits.
Find a Housing Counselor
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides support to a nationwide network of housing counseling agencies (HCAs) and certified counselors. HUD-participating HCAs are approved and trained to provide tools to current and prospective homeowners and renters so they can make responsible choices to address their housing needs in light of their financial situations.
Verifying Home Ownership or Occupancy
FEMA is required to verify you lived at the address in your application as your primary residence before providing most types of assistance. FEMA is also required to verify you owned your home before providing home repair or home replacement assistance. Learn more about this process.
As part of our effort to make the disaster assistance process quicker and reduce the burden on applicants, we try to verify occupancy and ownership by using an automated public records search.
If we cannot verify you lived in or owned the home that you listed on your application, we will ask you to provide documents to prove occupancy and/or ownership to help us determine if you are approved for assistance.
How Do I Appeal the Decision?
If you receive a letter stating that you are not approved for assistance or that your application is incomplete, you can still complete the application or appeal the decision within 60 days of receiving a decision letter. The letter would either be mailed to you or placed into your Disaster Assistance Center account, if you have set up an account.
Learn more about appeals
Frequently Asked Questions and Rumors
Learn more about common disaster-related rumors and how to report fraud. You can also get answers to frequently asked questions about emergency shelters, disaster assistance, flood insurance and more.
Multilingual Resources
You can find social media graphics with important safety messaging in various languages, including English, Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese.
We also have videos in American Sign Language (ASL) on topics including:
Local Resources
Local Information
Local News & Media
Visit the News & Media page for events, fact sheets, press releases and other multimedia resources.
PUBLIC NOTICE
MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATION
FEMA-4526-DR-DE
June 11, 2020
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is giving public notice of its intent to reimburse eligible applicants for emergency protective measures taken to protect public health and safety as a result of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) beginning on January 20, 2020 and continuing. FEMA is also giving public notice that, in some cases, it may provide financial assistance for activities that may affect historic properties, may be located in or affect wetland areas or the 100-year floodplain, and/or may involve critical actions within the 500-year floodplain.
- Public Notice – Major Disaster Declaration and Overview of Authorized Assistance
The President declared on April 5, 2020 that a major disaster exists within the State of Delaware pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Pub. L. No. 93-288 (1974) (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 5121 et seq.) (“Stafford Act”) as a result of COVID-19 beginning on January 20, 2020 and continuing. FEMA has administratively numbered the declaration for the State of Delaware as FEMA-4256-DR-DE. Under this declaration, FEMA will provide financial and/or direct assistance to the State of Delaware under Category B of the Public Assistance Program as authorized by Section 403 of the Stafford Act. Eligible emergency protective measures taken to respond to the COVID-19 disaster at the direction or guidance of public health officials may be reimbursed under Public Assistance Category B. State and local government entities and certain private nonprofit organizations throughout the entire State of Delaware are eligible to apply for Public Assistance.
- Public Notice – Assistance for Activities Located in or that Affect Wetlands Areas or Floodplains or that Affect Historic Properties
Some of the activities for which FEMA provides assistance under Public Assistance Category B may affect historic properties, may be located in or affect wetland areas or the 100-year floodplain, and/or may involve critical actions within the 500-year floodplain. In those cases, FEMA must comply with Executive Order 11988, Floodplain Management; Executive Order 11990, Protection of Wetlands; the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, 54 U.S.C. § 300101 et seq.) (“NHPA”); and the implementing regulations at 44 C.F.R. pt. 9 (Floodplain Management and Protection of Wetlands) and 36 C.F.R. pt. 800 (Protection of Historic Properties). The executive orders, NHPA, and/or regulations require FEMA to provide public notice for certain activities as part of approving the award of assistance for specific Public Assistance Category B projects.
- Federal Actions in or Affecting Floodplains and Wetlands
Executive Orders 11988 and 11990 require that all federal actions (including federal awards of financial assistance) in or affecting the floodplain or wetlands be reviewed for alternatives to avoid adverse effects and incompatible developments in those areas. The regulations at 44 C.F.R. pt. 9 set forth the FEMA policy, procedure, and responsibilities for implementing the Executive Orders. Certain actions are totally excluded from being covered by 44 C.F.R. pt. 9, such as certain emergency protective measures necessary to save lives and protect property and public health.
For those actions not excluded from 44 C.F.R. pt. 9, FEMA will identify and evaluate practicable alternatives to carrying out a proposed action that impacts or is impacted by wetlands or floodplain and use social, economic, historic, environmental, legal, and safety factors when analyzing the practicability of the alternatives. Where there is no practicable alternative, FEMA will undertake a detailed review to determine what measures can be taken to minimize potential harm to lives and risk from flooding, the potential adverse impacts the action may have on others, and the potential adverse impact the action may have on floodplain and wetland values. The public is invited to participate in the process of identifying alternatives and analyzing their impacts. Other Public Assistance projects will undergo more detailed review, including an evaluation of practicable alternatives and FEMA may publish subsequent public notices regarding such projects as necessary as more information becomes available.
- Federal Actions Affecting Historic Properties
Section 106 of the NHPA requires FEMA to consider the effects of its activities (known as “undertakings”) on any historic property and to afford the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation an opportunity to comment on such projects before the expenditure of any federal funds. A Public Assistance Category B project is an “undertaking” for the purposes of the NHPA and a historic property is any property that is included in, or eligible for inclusion in, the National Register of Historic Places. For historic properties that will not be adversely affected by FEMA’s undertaking, this will be the only public notice. It will also be the only public notice if the work is an immediate rescue and salvage operation to preserve life and property (36 C.F.R. § 800.12(d)) or falls within the list of programmatic allowances set forth in the Programmatic Agreement among FEMA, the Delaware State Historic Preservation Officer, and the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security. FEMA may, for other projects, provide additional public notices if a proposed FEMA undertaking would adversely affect a historic property.
- Further Information or Comment
This will be the only public notice regarding the actions described above for which FEMA may provide assistance under the Public Assistance Program. Interested persons may obtain information about these actions or a specific project by writing to the following:
Federal Emergency Management Agency
ATTN: FEMA-4526-DR-DE
615 Chestnut Street, 6th floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106-4404
FEMA-R3-EHP-PublicComment@fema.dhs.gov
All comments concerning this public notice must be submitted in writing to FEMA within 15 days of its publication.
How to Help
Volunteer and Donate
Recovery can take many years after a disaster. There are many ways to help such as donating cash, needed items or your time. Learn more about how to help those in need.
Don’t self-deploy to disaster areas. Trusted organizations in the affected areas know where volunteers are needed. Work with an established organization to make sure you have the appropriate safety, training and skills needed to respond.
FEMA Voluntary Agency Liaisons (VALs) build relationships and coordinate efforts with voluntary, faith-based and community organizations active in disasters.
Doing Business with FEMA
If you are interested in providing paid services and goods for disaster relief, visit our Doing Business with FEMA page to get started.
If you own a business involved with debris removal and want to work on clean-up efforts in affected areas, please contact the local government in affected areas to offer your services.
Funding Obligations
Individual Assistance | Amount |
---|---|
Total Other Needs Assistance (ONA) - Dollars Approved | $8,907,721.38 |
Total Individual & Households Program Dollars Approved | $8,907,721.38 |
Individual Assistance Applications Approved | 1373 |
Public Assistance | Amount |
---|---|
Emergency Work (Categories A-B) - Dollars Obligated | $211,651,631.97 |
Total Public Assistance Grants Dollars Obligated | $224,386,049.06 |
Hazard Mitigation Assistance | Amount |
---|---|
Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) - Dollars Obligated | $583,853.67 |