Santa Rosa County Still CARES

NEED ASSISTANCE? CALL 2-1-1United Way 211 Logo

If you were impacted by COVID-19, contact United Way of West Florida by calling 211, a completely free and confidential service available to Santa Rosa County residents 24/7. United Way can connect you to available food, housing, rental/mortgage, utility and employment assistance. Visit uwwf.org/211 for more information.

CARES Act Impact

Through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, approximately $32M was made available to Santa Rosa County for reimbursable necessary expenditures incurred between March 1 through Dec. 30, 2020, due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Types of expenses included Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), cleaning supplies, remote operations technology, hands free equipment, sneeze guards, and eligible personnel and programmatic costs.Total expenditures including public safety, emergency operations staff time and other eligible program expenses were submitted to the Florida Department of Emergency Management, allowing the county to receive the total allocation of $32,161,196.

SRC CARES Act LogoA reserve plan was incorporated into the CARES program framework ensuring available resources for pandemic related emerging needs such as a vaccination plan and continued COVID-19 testing beyond Dec.30.


Please click through the following tabs below to see how CARES made a difference in our county.

Click to Download: CARES Act Impact (PDF)

FINAL CARES Act Impact Document
  1. Goverment, Health and Public Safety
  2. Education
  3. Human Services
  4. Economic Recovery

Government, Health and Public Safety

The Government, Health and Public Safety Program was initially established and utilized for testing and contact tracing for county residents, personal protection equipment (PPE) supply, and other infection mitigation strategies.

  • Provided funding to contract with Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart and the Department of Health to establish 48-hour turnaround COVID-19 testing sites within the county, providing a 1,693 monthly patient average.
  • Provided reimbursements for unbudgeted COVID-19 related expenses to Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office, Clerk of Court, Tax Collector, Property Appraiser, Supervisor of Elections and the Courthouse. 
  • Provided reimbursements for unbudgeted COVID-19 related expenses to the cities of Milton and Gulf Breeze and the Town of Jay. 
  • Provided the fire district and EMS with hands-free lifesaving equipment.
  • PPE distribution provided:
    • 161,320 N95, procedure/surgical, and reusable masks
    • 127,004 face shields, gloves, suits, goggles, boot covers and gowns
    • 2,188 hand sanitizers/disinfectants