The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved $12.8 million in additional public assistance funding for the COVID-19 response in Utah.

The grant was awarded to Intermountain Healthcare to reimburse it for the cost of personal protective equipment (PPE) for emergency and in-patient clinical care to COVID-19 positive patients, and to protect the health and safety of healthcare workers at 71 Intermountain Healthcare facilities throughout the state.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}  The award covers the cost of PPE including face shields, medical gloves, medical gowns, N95 respirators, coveralls and surgical masks used by the private nonprofit’s facilities from Jan. 21 to Dec. 31, 2020, for the COVID-19 response.

The assistance was made available under a major disaster declaration issued April 4, 2020. FEMA has provided more than $254 million for the Utah COVID-19 response to date with the additional funding.{/mprestriction}