ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. -- Escambia County citizens who require funeral assistance due to COVID-19 can apply for FEMA's COVID-19 Funeral Assistance Program.
Funding recipients must be U.S. citizens.
Deaths that occurred after May 16, 2020, must indicate on the death certificate that the death was related to COVID-19.
Death certificates that do not attribute COVID-19 must be accompanied by a signed statement listing COVID-19 as a cause or contributor to the cause of death.
A death certificate issued on or after May 17, 2020, must attribute directly or indirectly to COVID-19.
President Biden approved the funding of COVID-19 related funeral expenses incurred on or after Jan. 20, 2020 in the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
FEMA says they encourage citizens to keep the death certificate to show the death occurred in the U.S. or other U.S. territory.
A release from Escambia County included this statement:
To apply for COVID-19 Funeral Assistance, call the helpline at 844-684-6333. The helpline is available Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., Eastern Time. Multilingual services will be available. Online applications are not accepted. If you use a relay service, such as your videophone, Innocaption or CapTel, please provide your specific number assigned to that service. It is important that FEMA is able to contact you, and you should be aware phone calls from FEMA may come from an unidentified number.