BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending nearly $6.6 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse the University of Massachusetts Amherst for the cost of testing students, faculty and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $6,593,575 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the public land-grant research university in Amherst for the cost of providing 263,743 tests between August 2020 and August 2021.
“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist UMass Amherst with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Providing resources for our partners on the front lines of the pandemic fight is critical to their success, and our success as a nation.”
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 $1 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.