By John Estridge
Union County Health Nurse Kim Klein came to the Union County Commissioners’ meeting recently with some good news.
The county was in line to receive an Indiana Department of Health $100,000 grant for COVID-19 testing. The grant would begin in September and runs through June 2021, Klein said.
Both commissioners present at the meeting, Tim Williams and Howard Curry – commission president Paul Wiwi attends the meetings by phone during the pandemic — wondered if the state agency knew how many residents reside in the county. Klein said once the grant goes into effect, the health department will allow residents from other counties to be tested also.
She said the first grant they received was for $60,000, and at the time of the meeting, half had been used.
Along with the grant, the UCHD will include Personal Protective Equipment for those administering the tests along with the equipment needed to do the testing.
Commissioners gave their consent for Klein to go after the grant, but Williams, a Republican, said a grant is not really free money as somebody pays for it.
At the time of the meeting, Klein said Union County’s number of positive COVID-19 results had gone up some, while Franklin County’s numbers continue to climb and Wayne County’s numbers “were going through the roof.”