The Federal Emergency Management Agency has authorized the release of more than $1.5 million to Maui County to reimburse the public funds it spent to test people for COVID-19 from October 2020 through September 2021.

The payment covers the cost of testing equipment, supplies, and personnel who administered more than 33,000 tests at three locations over the course of a year, including during the surge of COVID-19 cases driven by the delta variant, according to a news release.

The Maui Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) operated three COVID-19 testing sites in Kahului, Kihei and Lahaina through a contractor. The state’s Maui District Health Office assisted with completing the testing.

The federal government agreed to reimburse 100 percent of certain qualified expenditures for the COVID-19 emergency response under the Presidential disaster declaration for the incident. The Hawai’i Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) works with government offices and nonprofits in the state to document their spending during declared federal disasters and assist with obtaining reimbursement.

More than $219 million worth of projects have been approved so far by FEMA for reimbursement of spending on emergency protective measures by organizations in Hawaii.