Madison County approves COVID-related grants and Health Department purchases
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
The board adopted emergency appropriations for a State’s Attorney JAG award and an IDPH CURES grant, authorized vaccine purchases and approved computer equipment for the Health Department; a local health adviser also warned of rising hospital capacity pressures.
Madison County Board members on Nov. 18 approved several immediate emergency appropriations and vendor contracts intended to support COVID-19 response and routine public-health operations.
The board adopted emergency budget increases under state statute for a $85,540 Justice Assistance Grant to the State’s Attorney’s drug prosecution unit and a $493,694 Local Coronavirus Urgent Remediation Emergency Support (CURES) Program grant from the Illinois Department of Public Health to fund pandemic response activities. Separately, the Child Advocacy Center received a $40,000 supplemental grant and the Sheriff accepted an IDOT STEP grant of $16,618.56.
The Health Department also received authorization to buy vaccines from three manufacturers: Sanofi Pasteur (ActHib, Daptacel, Prevnar13 and others; not to exceed $70,000), Merck Sharp & Dohme (Gardasil, MMR, Pneumovax; not to exceed $80,000) and GlaxoSmithKline (Bexsero, Shingrix, FluLaval; not to exceed $90,000). County leaders also approved a $31,276 purchase of 8 desktops, 20 laptops, 8 monitors and 20 docking stations for the Health Department.
A health advisory statement from Dr. David B. Yablonsky, read by the board chair, underscored rising hospital utilization in the region. "As of Monday, 58 of the 324 non-ICU hospital beds in the five Madison County hospitals were occupied with COVID patients. That’s 18 percent," the statement said; it also noted 17 of 54 ICU beds (about 32 percent) were occupied by COVID patients.
Board materials show these appropriations will be paid from the designated grant or Health Department funds and that unspent award dollars for multi-year grants will carry forward into Fiscal Year 2021 as appropriate.
The board did not take major new policy action beyond accepting the grants and approving purchases; departments were directed to proceed with implementation under existing procurement rules.