Current News

Vermont Business Magazine To slow the spread of COVID-19 as cases and hospitalizations rise in Vermont and throughout the nation, Vermont will temporarily require a 14-day quarantine for all non-essential travel, increase compliance checks and expand testing to find the virus earlier and contain it faster. The latest modeling, presented today by the Scott Administration, showed a 34% increase in cases in the Northeast since last week and cases are averaging 112,500 per day nationally. While Vermont continues to have the lowest positivity rate in the country, cases rose 46% this week. Hospitalizations are also rising in Vermont.

by UVM Health Network CEO, John Brumsted, MD First and foremost, to our patients, families and communities, we are very sorry for the worry and frustration this has caused. And we regret disruptions in your care. As a physician, there are fewer things more alarming than when patients in need of care cannot access it. This cyberattack happened in the midst of a global pandemic that shows no signs of slowing, making this situation even more troubling. That is why we are working so hard to prioritize the services that are most critical, and it is why we are investing significant time and human resources in manual processes that, while slower than in normal times, allow us to deliver care to those who need it most.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the University of Vermont Medical Center, in collaboration with the Vaccine Testing Center at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, began enrolling volunteers as part of the Phase 3 trial of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca. Volunteer participants are randomly assigned to receive either the investigative vaccine or the placebo and are now beginning to receive the first of two injections.

Vermont Business Magazine VGS today announced it has added certified, responsibly developed thermal energy into its system that serves more than 53,000 homes and businesses in Addison, Chittenden and Franklin counties. As part of its overall supply, VGS is purchasing the Equitable Origin EO100 certified natural gas from Seven Generations Energy (7G), an energy producer dedicated to responsible development in Alberta, Canada.

Vermont Business Magazine GlobalFoundries announced today it has made a donation of tools and equipment to Generator, Inc ꟷ a local, non-profit makerspace dedicated to supporting the creative, hands-on education and production needs of 400+ members. Located in Burlington, Generator offers access to shared tools and manufacturing equipment, software and educational programs and has strong relationships with local universities, companies and other community shops in the state. The donation is part of GF’s commitment to the community’s efforts to build a Vermont-based technical workforce.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University will observe Veterans Day by conducting a Corps of Cadets review in honor of all veterans, past and present from 1:15 to 2 p.m. Tuesday, November 10. The ceremony will be livestreamed on Norwich’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/NorwichUniversity/. In the abundance of caution and for the health and safety of the Norwich and central Vermont community, the Norwich campus is closed to the public for the foreseeable future to include all buildings, fields and tracks.

Vermont Business Magazine Dana Rozycki and Vicki Wilson, co-presidents of the Bennington Rotary Club, met with Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s (SVHC) Director of Materials Management Ron Keefer, and Tom Dee, SVHC’s president and CEO, to donate 9,000 medical-grade facemasks to the health system. Bennington Rotary Club provided a total of $4,340 for the purchase of the personal protective equipment. The club participated in the Rotary District 7870 COVID-19 Global Grant Program, in which funds provided by Bennington Rotary were multiplied by 3.5 times through a match at the district level.

by Jack Hoffman, Public Assets Institute Now that Election Day is over Congress needs to get back to work and approve another round of COVID relief to support the states. New national daily COVID cases are topping 130,000, and the first round of federal relief is running out. So far, Vermont hasn’t taken the financial hit that was anticipated last March when COVID-19 became a pandemic. That is due in large part to swift action by Congress. The CARES1Act directed more than $4.5 billion in federal aid to Vermont businesses, individuals, and state government. That included $600 a week in federal supplemental unemployment benefits, which was a lifeline to workers who had to stop working but couldn’t support their families on regular state unemployment insurance payments.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Governor Phil Scott today discontinued the state's travel map because of the growth of the coronavirus across the nation. Everyone who is non-essential must quarantine for 14 days (or 7 days plus a negative test). The state is also reporting today that Rutland Health & Rehab has seven new cases. As COVID-19 cases in the Northeast impinge on Vermont's travel map, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) released a report today showing new COVID cases are increasing in nursing homes in the US due to the community spread among the general population.

Vermont Business Magazine National Bank of Middlebury has awarded $100,000 in twenty $5,000 grants to small business and nonprofit organizations. These grants, made under the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston Jobs for New England Recovery Grant Program, were designed to help businesses that were adversely affected by COVID-19. Small businesses and nonprofits that faced a 25% or greater decrease in revenue and were current customers of National Bank of Middlebury were eligible to apply.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported 23 new cases of COVID-19 statewide today. As the state experiences a steady increase in cases, Vermonters are strongly urged to avoid unnecessary travel, including for the upcoming holidays, and to limit the size of gatherings to 10 or fewer people. If you have attended an event with people who are not in your usual social circle, including post-election gatherings over the past weekend, please avoid close contact with others and consider getting tested.

Vermont Business Magazine After serving as the Deputy Commissioner for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) for nearly four years, Sam Lincoln will be stepping down at the end of the month to pursue other professional opportunities. Among his many other duties, Lincoln championed work related to Vermont’s forest economy, including logger safety training, a workers’ compensation insurance program for employers, in-the-woods workshops for loggers designed to improve water quality, forest management mobile technology tools, and initiatives supporting forest products businesses.