- The federal government continues to take aggressive and proactive steps in responding to a national and worldwide outbreak of a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
- FEMA and other federal agencies have been supporting The White House Coronavirus Task Force as part of a whole of government response to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and protect the public.
- On March 16, 2020, FEMA Region 7 activated its Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC) in Kansas City, Missouri to provide a coordinated federal response to assist local, state and Tribal partners in the Midwest with COVID-19 efforts. FEMA Region 7 is comprised of the states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska and is home to nine federally recognized tribal nations.
- Other federal agencies are assisting FEMA Region 7 with COVID efforts including: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), its public health component known as Assistant Secretary for Preparedness & Response, the Department of Defense Coordinating Element, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the U.S. Veterans Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- On March 13, 2020, President Trump declared a nationwide emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Act to help reimburse certain emergency costs and/or provide direct federal assistance to local, state and territorial governments, as well as tribal nations. The states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska were included in this sweeping designation.
- That assistance has been expanded to major disaster declarations granted by President Trump for the states of Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. On March 30, the state of Nebraska submitted a major disaster declaration request to include the expanded reimbursement of COVID-19-related emergency protective measures.
- Six of the nine federally recognized Tribes in Region 7 have received direct emergency declarations to help reimburse certain emergency costs and get direct federal assistance to support their tribal nations’ COVID efforts. Those tribes are:
- Ponca Tribe of Nebraska
- Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
- Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation of Kansas
- Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas
- Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska
- Omaha Tribe of Nebraska
- Emergency protective measures for COVID-19 under both types of declarations include such items as medical supplies, temporary medical facilities used to treat patients, and some labor costs for temporary medical personnel.
- For the past month, FEMA Region 7 and HHS Region 7 have had liaisons working with state emergency management staffs and tribal leadership to help support the COVID-19 needs in each state and tribal nation.
COVID-19 Resources:
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FEMA has several web pages at www.fema.gov to provide accurate information about the ever-changing COVID environment.
- For general information, go to www.fema.gov
- For rumor control, go to: www.fema.gov/Coronavirus-Rumor-Control
- Looking for ways to help? Go to: www.fema.gov/coronavirus/how-to-help
- If you are interested in doing business with FEMA and supporting the response to COVID- 19 with your company’s non-medical goods and/or services, please submit your inquiry to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Procurement Action Innovative Response Team (PAIR) team at DHSIndustryLiaison@hq.dhs.gov.
- To sell medical supplies or equipment to the federal government, please submit a price quote under the COVID-19 PPE and Medical Supplies Request for Quotation. Full details can be found in the solicitation (Notice ID 70FA2020R00000011). This solicitation requires registration with the System for Award Management (SAM) in order to be considered for award, pursuant to applicable regulations and guidelines. Registration information can be found at www.sam.gov. Registration must be “ACTIVE” at the time of award.
- If you have medical supplies or equipment to donate, please provide us details on what you are offering.
- If you are a private company that wants to produce a product related to the COVID response – email nbeoc@max.gov.
- If you are a hospital or healthcare provider in need of medical supplies, please contact your state, local, tribal or territory department of public health and/or emergency management agency.
FEMA reminds the general public that the virus can affect persons of any age, and that each and every person can help slow the spread of coronavirus by frequently washing hands, disinfecting surfaces, practicing physical distancing (at least six feet from another person) and staying home as much as possible until local or state authorities provide different direction.
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