Shocking COVID grant abuse: 304 overtime hours for 78 shots

By DOGE Nevada Staff

A new whistleblower report exposes COVID grant abuse at Northern Nevada Public Health (NNPH), where officials billed hundreds of hours of employee overtime to federal relief funds long after the crisis had passed.

Instead of winding down once the pandemic was over, Washoe County kept cashing in.

A Quick Look at the Math

According to records obtained by DOGE NEVADA, NNPH staff clocked 1,400.5 hours of overtime during FY25 (July 2024—June 2025). Of that, 426.75 hours — nearly one-third — were charged to COVID relief grants.

Here’s the kicker: during that same period, NNPH administered just 1,343 COVID shots total. That means taxpayers were effectively on the hook for more than 3 hours of overtime for every 10 shots delivered.

One month, in particular, stands out like a flashing red light: August 2024.

—COVID shots given: 78

—COVID overtime billed: 304.25 hours

—Ratio: almost 40 hours of overtime for every 10 shots

Compare that to October 2024, when demand actually spiked to 376 shots. The overtime billed that month? Just 61 hours, or about 1.6 hours per 10 shots.

That looks like normal, justifiable overtime. August, on the other hand, looks like plain abuse.

From Emergency Relief to Easy Paychecks

Federal COVID relief was meant for a true emergency — to save lives when hospitals were overrun and vaccination clinics were working nonstop. By mid-2024, though, the crisis had calmed. Clinics were nearly empty.

In fact, by June 2025, NNPH administered only eight doses the entire month. Yet the agency still claimed overtime on federal COVID funds.

The whistleblower report also alleged that management-level staff were “called back” to work overtime while collecting retirement benefits. That meant public money was used not to meet urgent needs, but to pad paychecks.

The Cost of COVID Grant Abuse

COVID relief wasn’t Monopoly money. It came from taxpayers, including hardworking families in Nevada. Every unnecessary overtime hour billed meant less money available for other priorities: schools, public safety, or healthcare that actually met today’s needs.

This is a crystal-clear window into how government can grow addicted to federal dollars. Instead of winding down once the emergency passed, Washoe County kept dipping into the pot, using pandemic funds to prop up routine operations.

The Excuses Don’t Add Up

Defenders argue that even with fewer shots, staff had to spend time on paperwork, reporting, and compliance. That may be true to a point, but the math still fails the smell test.

If it takes 61 hours of overtime to handle almost 400 shots in October, then how can it possibly take 304 hours for fewer than 80 shots in August? The numbers just don’t make sense. No amount of spin can change that.

A Pattern of COVID Grant Abuse in Nevada

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only case where we’ve seen COVID grant abuse here in Nevada. Across the state, watchdogs have raised concerns about grants being tapped for unrelated programs, payroll backfilling, and routine expenses that had nothing to do with the pandemic. Remember this story on Washoe County attempting to use COVID funds to move an art installation?

This is yet another a reminder of why oversight matters. As President Reagan once said, “The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a government program.” Pandemic funding looks like a prime example of that. What was meant to be temporary has turned into a permanent slush fund for bureaucrats.

The Final Tally of Waste

In August 2024, Northern Nevada Public Health billed taxpayers 304 hours of “COVID overtime” for just 78 COVID shots.

That’s not emergency response. That’s waste. And if Nevadans don’t demand accountability, this kind of “pandemic slush fund” spending will keep draining public money long after the real crisis is gone.