Monterey County is getting an unexpected $20 million for Covid-19 testing, contact tracing and vaccination efforts.

You know that feeling you get when you find a stray $20 bill in your coat pocket? Imagine finding $20 million. That’s what happened to Monterey County today. 

This morning, CalMatters broke the news that “additional, unanticipated federal funds” in the amount of $1.7 billion are coming to California, with $1.2 billion of it going to local governments for Covid-19 testing, contact tracing and vaccination efforts.

Monterey County’s share is estimated to be around $20.5 million. The chair of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Wendy Root Askew, says the county is waiting for a direct allocation letter to confirm the exact amount.

The money comes through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity grant, part of the CARES Supplemental Act of 2021. According to a letter sent yesterday to state legislators by Erika Li, chief deputy director of the California Department of Finance, the state received some ELC monies last summer mainly for increasing testing capacity, contact tracing and other mitigation efforts.

Li called the 2021 ELC funds “notably different,” because the Centers for Disease Control “explicitly permitted its use for vaccination activities.” 

The funds were divided between California’s counties based upon an equity lens, according to CalMatters’ reporting. The state Finance Department considered each county’s population as of 2019, poverty rate, and population percentages of Black, Latino or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents in making the determination of who would get what. (San Diego County will receive the most, $124 million.)

The good news comes at the exact timethe Monterey County Health Department and the Office of Emergency Services are working to get mass vaccination sites up and running as soon as more vaccines become available.

Monterey County Administrator Charles McKee says he is “overwhelmingly pleased” with the found money. 

Part of Monterey County’s share of the windfall will go to support the community health care workers who are currently part of a six-month Covid-19 outreach and education program, McKee says. In December, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to spend nearly $5 million to deploy 100 workers in the neighborhoods hardest hit by Covid-19, mainly in Salinas and South County.

And while McKee says the county is “heartened to see the formula used here is to divide the money to account for population and social equity,” he has concerns about how equitable the state’s distribution of the ELC funds really is.

“In Monterey County, we know many are not always included in our official population statistics, especially those hard-working farmworkers who travel here to help harvest food for the community,” McKee says. “We encourage the state to make sure equity includes fairness in funding for all of our full-time and part-time residents.”