Pierce County Report Breaks Down How CARES Act Funding Was Spent

PIERCE COUNTY, WA — Near the beginning of the pandemic last March, Congress passed a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or CARES Act.

The act provided emergency funding to state governments, and Washington made the uncommon choice to pass some of that funding directly to local counties to help them combat the pandemic. In total, Pierce County received $158 million dollars from the CARES Act and now that that money is spent — funds were required to be exhausted by the end of 2020 — the county is looking back at where all that funding went.

To that end, they have released the Pierce County 2020 CARES Act Funding Report, a brief document summarizing their expenditures.

Here's a look at their breakdown:

Public Health Emergency Response

• 42 percent of Pierce County's CARES Act funding
• $65.5 million in total spending
  • $23.5 million to testing and disease prevention
  • $19.5 million in expanding public health system capacity
  • $10.5 million on PPE and PPE training
  • $5.4 million on contact tracing programs
  • $2.6 million on public education programs
  • $1.3 million on data collection and analysis

As the report explains, that money financed the county's mobile COVID-19 testing program, which has now performed more than 85,000 coronavirus tests. It also bought and distributed 5.5 million pieces of Personal Protective Equipment, and established a COVID-19 temporary care center that housed 337 people who didn't have anywhere else to stay during quarantine.

Economic Stabilization & Recovery

• 29 percent of Pierce County's CARES Act funding
• $46.5 million in total spending
  • $35.8 million to support micro, small and medium-sized businesses
  • $5.5 million for COVID-19 response kits
  • $3.7 million to help support businesses as they reopen or get recertified
  • $1.5 million in workforce safety training

All told, that money paid for 1,011 small business relief loans, and 602 adaptation grants to help struggling businesses. It also paid off nearly $17 million on commercial rental and mortgage assistance, and financed a restaurant rally which supported 283 local restaurants.

Community Response & Resilience

• 21 percent of Pierce County's CARES Act funding
• $33 million in total spending
  • $15.6 million for housing stability and homelessness
  • $5.6 million for child and family services
  • $4 for food and nutritional programs
  • $2.3 million for veterans services
  • $1.5 million for behavioral health programs

According to the county, community spending helped provide services to 10,500 residents of senior centers and housing, food, and car assistance for 435 local veterans. The county says that, all together, this money directly served 49,600 Pierce County residents, and another 453,900 benefitted from the money sent to the Emergency Food Network.

Essential Government Services

• 8 percent of Pierce County's CARES Act funding
• $13 million in total spending
  • $6.7 million to finance government response to COVID-19
  • $2.7 million to support local jurisdictions
  • $3.6 million in regional law and justice services.

The report says this money helped 38 county facilities adapt to the challenges presented by the pandemic.

Read the full Pierce County 2020 CARES Act Funding Report.