13 new COVID cases reported, stimulus funding on the way

AP File Photo

Butler County Health Department Director Emily Goodin announced at Wednesday’s COVID-19 briefing 13 new cases were added, bringing the number of cases in the county to 3,664 since March.

While Goodin focused on the virus, testing and vaccines, Lesley Rone with U.S. Senator Roy Blunt’s office joined the call to focus on the stimulus bill.

Goodin said, “We do not have any mass testing scheduled for January, but we still do have our rapid access machine. We’re testing twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays. We have an appointment schedule on our Facebook page and website. So if anybody’s interested in a rapid test, they just need to hop on there and get themselves scheduled.”

While “we prefer everything to be done online, either on the website or Facebook page,” Goodin explained, if “they don’t have access, they can call” to make an appointment.

Those scheduling online “probably will have quicker results than they would” if they called. The “volume of calls happening right now is making it difficult for some of that to happen.

The health center “did receive a 300 doses (of vaccine) a couple weeks ago, targeting Tier One, which is our health care providers with direct care,” Goodin said. “We have went through the whole allotment we received from the state. We request every week, but unfortunately, we’re on hold right now. We are possibly looking at getting more vaccines for the health department toward the end of January. But again, that’s subject to change based on the allotment that Missouri gets from the federal government.”

Butler County Emergency Management Director Robbie Myers said Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center had its vaccinations yesterday.

Myers said, “that went very smoothly. I was witness to the operation that was organized well and look forward to more doses coming in and to get more health care workers” vaccinated.

When Rone joined the briefing, she explained, the stimulus bill got passed along with the 2021 funding bill, which caused a ton of confusion because there was a lot of legislation passed.

Rone said, the stimulus bill provides $600 for adults and for children. Unlike last time, children will get $600 instead of just $500.

“As far as $2,000, I think that would be taken up in the next Congress or after the inauguration. But for right now, it’s $600,” Rone said.

Like with the first stimulus checks that went out, people who are filing taxes electronically are going to be receiving those checks faster in the automatic deposit. If you are filing by paper, there can be some hiccups, and it definitely does take longer. So electronic filers may start seeing that money, she said.

There is an additional $284 billion which got put into the paycheck Protection Program (PPP). One question came up from a lot of business owners is the expenses that they paid using paycheck protection, were those tax deductible, and they are in fact tax deductible, Rone said.

The same businesses can reapply for more PPP funding if they’re showing a loss greater than 25% in comparable quarters.

The food program with farmers, the family food box program providing freefood boxes, received an additional $1.5 billion. There will be a fifth round coming out. Those contracts for the fifth round are going to be awarded by Jan. 19 and the boxes will start rolling out immediately following. The additional funding also extended the increase in SNAP benefits for another six months, an additional $400 million for food that goes to food banks and senior boxes, and Meals on Wheels received $175 million.

“This is by far not a comprehensive list. I just tried to pick some of the things that would be of interest to the folks in Poplar Bluff and Butler County,” Rone said.

Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Chris Rushin said, the club had about 445 students on Monday.

“The numbers continued to look good,” he said.