Arkansas health officials defend COVID-era meal purchases, say meals were operationally necessary and are seeking CARES reimbursement

Arkansas Department of Health officials told the State Agencies committee that meals purchased during the height of the COVID-19 response were provided to personnel who worked in a level-1 emergency operations center operating 24/7 and were not an ordinary catering expense.

Greg Brown, acting incident commander for the department's COVID response, described an operation that at times included nearly 200 staff, 50 epidemiologists and 50 call takers working long shifts. Brown said leadership asked response staff to remain on-site, often for 12-hour or longer shifts, to avoid introducing infection risk to the operation. "My job... was to ensure the safety and the health of those who are responding," he told the committee.

Brown said meals provided to staff were "very minimalistic" (example: a turkey sandwich, a cookie and chips) and that three meals per day were provided to quarantined citizens at department facilities. He acknowledged early in the pandemic only a limited number of restaurants would deliver; as availability grew, more vendors supplied simple lunches. The department said those expenditures were discussed with federal partners who indicated such expenses were allowable during response operations.

Members asked about specific line items cited in media reporting — the committee chair cited a $113 restaurant charge and another entry described in the report as $57,772 — and asked for documentation and a recipient list to support oversight. Joe Thompson, the department's chief financial officer, said the department is seeking reimbursement of eligible expenses to the CARES/FEMA funding line and will provide further detail to the committee. Committee members requested itemized invoices and lists of recipients to enable legislative oversight.