Overview

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress appropriated $2.6 trillion in emergency assistance for people, businesses, the health care system, and state and local governments. GAO is examining many aspects of the federal response and is your source for that fact-based, nonpartisan information. The CARES Act requires GAO to issue bi-monthly reports on the impact of COVID-19.

GAO's Latest Findings

On September 21st, we issued our latest report in response to the CARES Act. This report outlines the many effective steps the Administration and the Congress have taken to address issues, and identifies further steps to improve the nation’s response to the pandemic. Our findings and recommendations cover the medical supply chain, vaccines and therapeutics, stimulus payments, federal assistance to states and localities, K-12 schools, federal procurements, and cybersecurity. Read more about our latest report in our press release here and below.

Among our findings:

• There have been shortages of personal protective equipment and testing supplies because very few of them are made in the U.S. and global demand for them is high
• HHS may be able to collect more complete data on COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among racial and ethnic minority groups
• The Department of the Treasury and the IRS don’t know how many eligible people have yet to receive an economic impact payment

We made 16 recommendations to address these and other issues.

The Federal Response to COVID-19 Could Be Strengthened by Timely Actions

CARES Act reports and other COVID-19 related reports will also be available to read or embed as an RSS feed from this page: Newest COVID-19 Related Reports.

COVID-19 experimental vaccine

Oversight, Insight, Foresight—and Hindsight

GAO is well-positioned to oversee the federal COVID-19 response, as we have extensive experience reporting fact-based information from officials and organizations across a wide array of federal issues.

GAO, other oversight bodies, and federal officials can use our past pandemic-related reports—and the many recommendations that still apply—to inform their own work. You can find a categorized list of these reports on this page: Past Pandemic-Related Reports.

How to Get Notified about New Reports

Be the first to know when GAO issues new work related to the pandemic and Coronavirus oversight.

• Live Feed of Reports: Embed our feed on your website. It will be updated with new reports as they are published.
• Daily Emails: Sign up for our daily emails on this topic or several others.
• Twitter: The fastest way to know we have issued new work is to follow us on Twitter @usgao.
• Open Recommendations: Keep track of related open recommendations.
• Blog Posts: Subscribe to our WatchBlog for the latest COVID-19 posts.
• Previously Issued Work by Topic: Take a look at our section on Past Pandemic-Related Reports.

Report Suspected Fraud to GAO

You can help us monitor the spending from the record $2 trillion stimulus package. If you suspect waste, fraud, or abuse of stimulus funds, report your concerns through FraudNet. Read April 10 press release.

FraudNet and COVID-19 Federal Assistance

FraudNet is a GAO program for the public, government workers, and contractors to report allegations of improper activities in the federal government—including fraud, waste, or abuse of funds provided under the CARES Act.

GAO Contacts

Federal Resources Related to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

• Coronavirus.gov: Public information provided by the U.S. government related to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
• CDC Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Current public health and safety information on COVID-19.
• USA.gov Coronavirus: What the U.S. government is doing in response to Coronavirus (COVID-19). View en español.