ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Friday that $113 million in federal coronavirus relief funds will be made available to nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
The funding will be used to bolster staffing and staff testing in facilities across the state, according to news release from Kemp’s office.
Georgia received approximately $4.1 billion in federal funding as part of the CARES Act, passed by Congress in March to provide economic assistance to address the pandemic. The state had approximately $2.1 billion of that left before Friday’s announcement, Kemp spokesman Cody Hall said. Funding can be used to cover costs incurred up until Dec. 30.
Residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic.
As of Thursday, over 2,530 residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities with 25 beds or more had died after contracting the coronavirus, according to data from the state Department of Community Health, out of roughly 7,060 total virus deaths across Georgia. Over 14,400 facility residents have tested positive for the virus, along with over 7,650 staff members.