The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $2.1 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse Lowell General Hospital for the cost of overtime labor during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $2,123,735 Public Assistance grant will reimburse Lowell General Hospital – part of the Tufts Medicine health system – for the cost of employees working overtime hours at both the Main Campus and Saints Campus.

Between September 2020 and September 2021, a total of 847 employees incurred 32,922 overtime hours to provide care for COVID-19 infected patients who were experiencing advanced respiratory illness and required isolation precautions.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Lowell General Hospital with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Reimbursing state, county, and municipal governments – as well as eligible non-profits and tribal entities – for the costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important part of our nation’s ongoing recovery.”

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 $1.7 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.