By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostA $2.2 trillion
relief package passed by Congress should help both individuals and businesses
survive during the economic downturn brought on by COVID-19.Congressman
Sam Graves says the bill will provide $1,200 per individual, plus $500 per
child to the average household. It also will provide SBA-backed loans to
businesses which will be forgiven if the business retains its employees at full
salary and benefits.“So, as long
as they keep those employees on, they’re going to be able to see that loan
forgiven,” Graves tells St. Joseph Post. “Also, 501(c)(3)s are going to be able
to participate in this. It amounts to about eight weeks’ worth of cash flow for
these small businesses.”The bill
also includes $100 billion to hospitals and health care providers and $16 billion
to buy personal protective equipment and ventilators as well as other medical
supplies.Graves says
the financial help to both individuals and businesses should help soften the
economic blow of coronavirus.“This
pandemic is having an incredible impact on everyone’s life, not just folks that
have gotten it and the physical harm that it does, but the financial harm that it’s
doing as well,” Graves says. “You’ve got folks that are being forced to stay at
home and they can’t get out and get to their work and so, it’s making it very
tough for them to be able to make ends meet too when it comes to feeding their
families, or paying the bills, or whatever the case may be.”President
Donald Trump, who had hoped to lift restrictions by Easter, has announced those
restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 will stay in place through
April.Graves
agrees with the decision, which he says is based on models which project
substantially more deaths from the coronavirus if the nation doesn’t extend the
call for social distancing.“It’s
theoretical at best. It’s a guess. It’s anybody’s guess, for that matter,” Graves
says. &nbsp;“So, he’s listening to the experts
and trying to draw conclusions from that, but if he extends it out there and then
he has to come back and say, look, things are getting better now, so we can
lift these restrictions, then he can do that. But I think we’re better safe
than sorry.”President Trump has told the nation’s governors that modeling on the
coronavirus projected substantially more deaths if the nation did not
incorporate social distancing.&nbsp;Dr. Deborah Birx, the coronavirus task
force coordinator,&nbsp;was also on the call Monday. She told governors it's
“several weeks away from the peak of the curve for the United States.” Dr.
Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, says the U.S.
could see between 100,000 to 200,000 deaths from the pandemic.Here is an outline of the
provisions of the relief bill, called the CARES Act, compiled by U.S. Sen. Roy
Blunt’s office: <ol>
 <li>Provides
 direct assistance to individuals and families that need it most. Under the
 bill, a typical middle-class family of four would get $3,400 to help them
 meet their daily expenses;</li><li>Includes
 emergency funds for food and nutrition programs so families can continue
 to get that help if they need it;</li><li>Provides
 immediate assistance to child care providers to prevent them from going
 out of business and supports child care for families, including for
 healthcare workers, first responders, and others playing critical roles
 during this crisis;</li><li>Provides
 cash-flow assistance to small businesses through federally-guaranteed
 loans, with certain expenses eligible for forgiveness if employers
 maintain their payrolls through this emergency;</li><li>Creates
 a temporary pandemic unemployment assistance program to give assistance to
 workers who aren’t normally eligible for unemployment benefits, such as
 the self-employed or independent contractors;</li><li>Ensures
 that testing and the eventual vaccine for coronavirus patients will be
 covered by private insurance;</li><li>Includes
 $100 billion in support for hospitals and health care providers, and
 provides flexibility for them to receive both prospective payments and
 reimbursement for costs associated with coronavirus, including lost
 revenues;</li><li>Gives
 health care providers more capabilities to offer telehealth services;</li><li>Provides
 an additional $16 billion to procure personal protective equipment,
 ventilators, and other medical supplies for federal and state response
 efforts;</li><li>Allows
 the Secretary of Education to defer student loan payments, enables
 students who were forced to drop out of school due to coronavirus to keep
 their Pell Grants, and gives colleges and universities the flexibility to
 continue work-study payments to students who cannot work due to coronavirus
 closures;</li><li>Provides
 funding for elementary and secondary schools that can be released quickly
 to states to help schools respond to coronavirus and related school
 closures, including immediate needs of students and teachers, improving
 use of education technology, supporting distance education, and making up
 for lost learning time.</li>
 </ol>The Associated Press contributed to this article.

$2.2 trillion in relief coming to economy weighed down by COVID-19