Gov. Doug Burgum today announced that President Donald Trump has granted the governor’s request for a major presidential disaster declaration to make federal assistance available to support North Dakota’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are deeply grateful to the President and his administration for making this assistance available to help us expand our response efforts and protect public health as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly evolves,” Burgum said. “We also appreciate the support from our state’s congressional delegation and the many local, state, federal and tribal partners contributing to this unprecedented effort.”
In declaring that a major disaster exists in North Dakota, President Trump ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in areas affected by the coronavirus disease, COVID-19. The declaration makes federal funding available to state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance.
Burgum declared a state of emergency on March 13 and activated the state’s Unified Command to coordinate a whole-of-government and whole-of-community approach to the COVID-19 response. He has since signed more than a dozen executive orders aimed at combating the spread of the novel coronavirus and providing relief to North Dakota citizens, employees and employers, health care workers, first responders and others.