Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released a report on how much of the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) had been spent by state and local governments as of June 30. According to the report, the state of Washington; King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Spokane counties; and the City of Seattle had collectively spent $126.9 million through that date (of $2.953 billion total). As I noted at the time, this is an understatement—the figures do not include amounts allocated (but not yet spent). For example, the state government may have only spent $7.1 million through June 30, but it had allocated $739.3 million by that time. (Since then, it has allocated more, as discussed below.)

Now Treasury has provided a breakout of the costs incurred through June 30 by spending category. The table below shows the numbers for Washington’s governments. Again, these figures are understatements of allocated spending, but it is interesting to see how each government used the funds.

Over half of the costs incurred by all governments in Washington were used for public health expenses. The next highest use was “budgeted personnel and services diverted to a substantially different use.” (According to the CRF FAQ document, this could include things like using corrections facility staff “to enable compliance with COVID-19 public health precautions” or using educational support staff “to develop online learning capabilities.”)

To date, the state government has allocated $868.5 million from the CRF. That includes $62.8 million to the Department of Health for testing and contact tracing and $10.2 million for the Department of Health to assist local health jurisdictions with contract tracing (both allocated Aug. 19). The state government has $1.299 billion left to spend.