BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $1.3 million to the State of Connecticut to reimburse it for the cost of steps taken to open several temporary hospitals to handle the overflow caused by COVID-19 patients during the pandemic.

The $1,350,489 FEMA Public Assistance grant will reimburse the Connecticut Department of Corrections for the cost of setting up four temporary hospitals at Stamford Hospital; the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford; Western Connecticut State University in Danbury; and Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.

Acting as the state’s logistical agency, the department contracted to set up the hospital surge sites, mobilize resources to the hospitals, set up equipment and medical supplies within the hospitals, and site demobilization between March 2020 and April 2021.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist the State of Connecticut with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Providing resources for our institutions of higher education to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is critical to their success, and to our success as a nation.”

FEMA’s Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency.

So far, FEMA has provided more than $669 million in Public Assistance grants to Connecticut to reimburse the state for pandemic-related expenses.