Governor Jim Doyle was among a panel of governors during a day-long summit Tuesday in Maryland addressing preparation and prevention of a flu spike this fall with both seasonal strains and H1N1.
Money to fight the flu was on the mind of Doyle, as Wisconsin and other states face strict budgets. He asked, via video conference, US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius what federal funding is available.
Sebelius says a supplemental bill passed by Congress will provide $350 million dollars. Of that $260 million goes toward states and territories, as well as 60 million to hospitals for surge capacity. The application deadline for the federal grants is July 29th and Washington may start sending checks out as early as the 31st.
Sebelius also says they've already allotted about a billion dollars to buy the bulk of a flu vaccine's ingredients.
Wisconsin has by far had the highest number of influenza A cases nationwide.
