Federal Response to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic brought significant challenges to the nation's public health and economy. Since March 2020, Congress has provided over $4.65 trillion in federal funds through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and other laws to help the nation respond to and recover from the pandemic.

Oversight of this money has resulted in hundreds of recommendations to improve the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and identified a number of lessons from the pandemic.

For example:

• The strategic national stockpile. Agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have been tasked with leading the nation’s response to public health emergencies. This has included coordinating with jurisdictions—including Tribes, states, localities, and territories—to distribute life-saving medicines and supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile. But during recent public health responses, such as COVID-19 and mpox, jurisdictions weren't clear on how to request supplies or the roles of the HHS agencies that work with stockpile assets, causing confusion and delays. HHS should work to define and share agency roles and responsibilities related to the strategic national stockpile and develop procedures to update its guidance on requesting and receiving stockpile assets.
• Unemployment insurance. Congress created four new unemployment insurance programs to support workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following this expansion, the amount of fraud in these programs increased—with evidence indicating that the total fraud was over $60 billion and perhaps much higher. The Department of Labor has taken steps to address such fraud. For example, it issued guidance, provided funding to states, and recommended improvements to state unemployment insurance programs. However, the department has yet to determine fraud risk tolerance (the amount of fraud risk that it is willing to accept or tolerate) for the unemployment insurance program. (If you suspect waste, fraud, or abuse of pandemic relief funds, please report your concerns to FraudNet.)
• Small businesses. The Small Business Administration (SBA) moved quickly to develop and launch pandemic relief programs to help small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. These programs totaled over $1 trillion and assisted more than 10 million small businesses. However, some relief funds went to those who sought to defraud the government. SBA’s Office of Inspector General estimated, as of June 2023, that SBA had disbursed over $200 billion in potentially fraudulent relief loans. SBA has taken steps to improve its ability to prevent and detect potentially fraudulent transactions. Further enhancements to its data analytics program could enhance its efforts to manage fraud risks in ongoing and future relief programs. 

U.S. Army soldier administering a COVID-19 vaccine in Houston, Texas

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