Recent News

Media Contact:
Lisa Cox
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
Lisa.Cox@health.mo.gov

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – Federal funding has been made available to state and local governments for COVID-19-related expenses, as provided for by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump on March 27.

To assist local government entities in Missouri with recommended and appropriate uses for federal funding received, officials from the State of Missouri have created an online toolkit to help guide the process of budgeting and decision-making related to testing strategies, contact tracing, personal protective equipment needs and more. 

“Our hope is that by providing guidance on this complex and dynamic topic, we can help our local partners with their proactive measures to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19 in their respective areas,” said Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. “We are all one team working to diminish this virus together.”

Expanding testing capacity and volume is one of the four pillars of Missouri’s “Show Me Strong Recovery” plan. Testing is crucial to quickly identifying positive cases and stopping transmission within the community. 

On May 21, Gov. Parson announced the state’s testing plan which focuses on three main strategies – box-in outbreaks, sentinel testing, and community sampling. He stated, “We cannot fully recover economically without increasing our testing numbers. We have made great progress over the past month, but we must do more. The more testing we do, the more data and knowledge we have on the situation in Missouri, and the more confidence and reassurance we can give Missourians as we work through the recovery process.” 

The average daily PCR testing performed in Missouri has increased by 665% since April 20.

The CARES Act Funding Toolkit for Local Governments can be found at www.health.mo.gov/CARESToolkit.