BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending nearly $2.3 million to the State of New Hampshire to reimburse the University of New Hampshire for the cost of providing testing for students, faculty and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $2,288,046 FEMA Public Assistance grant to the public university will reimburse it for purchasing supplies and contracting for staff to administer and process COVID-19 tests at the university’s Manchester and Durham campuses between November 2020 and January 2021.
UNH hired temporary staff who acted as medical laboratory technicians and clinical lab assistants to administer COVID-19 tests, process specimens, and assist with COVID testing logistics. The university provided COVID-19 testing supplies such as labels for test tubes, pipettes, solution, calibrators, reagent chemicals, tubing, plastic combs and plates, deep-well plates, biological safety cabinets, adhesive film and power supply units.
“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist the University of New Hampshire with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Providing resources for our institutions of higher education to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is critical to their success, and to 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 $172 million in Public Assistance grants to New Hampshire to reimburse the state for pandemic-related expenses.