Back to Business grants are available to help businesses on the Middle Peninsula cover the costs of complying with COVID-19 pandemic guidelines, but Mathews businesses haven’t been taking advantage of the funding.

Mathews supervisor Melissa Mason, speaking during the board’s July 28 meeting, said she discovered at a recent meeting of the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission that there have been numerous inquiries and applications for the grants in the other localities in the planning district, “but not Mathews.”

Pointing out that meals tax returns are down by 61 percent in Mathews, Mason said the grant money is now available to benefit businesses as they make changes that enable them to comply with new health and safety requirements. The board of supervisors has allocated $100,000 of its federal CARES Act funding to the grant program, which is being overseen by the MPPDC.

According to the MPPDC’s Back to Business website, b2bmidpen.com, the grants won’t help with the...