Current News
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by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today reported another new record of 1,727 cases of COVID-19 on Monday. The record for cases was broken three times last week. However, there were no new COVID-related fatalities Monday, which held at 480 statewide. The VDH is urging eligible Vermonters to get vaccinated and boosted to reduce the chances of a serious health outcome.
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Vermont Department of Economic Development Join the Vermont Department of Labor on Thursday, January 6 at noon for a discussion on unemployment insurance and the impact of employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates on eligibility for workers. Also, the Vermont Department of Health (VDH) recently adopted updated COVID-19 guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control including shorter isolation and quarantine periods.
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Vermont Business Magazine According to a National Center for Health Statistics report released the last week of 2021 using official annual mortality data, 91,799 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2020 (to 28.3 per 100,000 people). This is an astounding 31 percent increase over the 2019 rate and the largest year-over-year rate increase on record. Vermont fatalities increased by 38 percent from 133 in 2019 to 190 in 2020 (32.9 per 100,000 people). Additional data suggests that 2021 drug overdose deaths continued to increase, underscoring the negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the health and well-being of Americans.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Special Needs Support Center (SNSC), based in White river Junction, has received a $10,000 grant from Doug Flutie Jr Foundation for Autism. The grant will help SNSC continue to create a community where people with special needs, across the spectrum and throughout the life span, can live their best lives.
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Gifford Health Care By now, we’re made our 2022 New Year’s Resolutions and there’s a pretty good chance improving fitness or losing weight is on that list. According to a YouGov poll, 98% of people made improving fitness or losing weight a resolution heading into 2021. But those resolutions don’t always stick throughout the year. Gifford Physical Therapist, Troy Stratton says there’s a couple of reasons that come into play when talking about the longevity of resolutions.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC) has announced the results of its December 9, 2021 annual election of VMEC Advisory Board members. Newly elected to the VMEC Advisory Board for two-year terms were Janette Bombardier, PE, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Chroma Technology/ 89 North (Bellows Falls) and Gina Akley, President, Trow & Holden (Barre).
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COVID-19 survivor will be the first guest
Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s (SVHC) Medical Matters Weekly with Dr. Trey Dobson is pleased to welcome Larry Cole, a former police detective and COVID-19 survivor, as their first guest of the program’s second season at noon on January 5. Cole contracted COVID before vaccines were available. He spent 18 days as an inpatient at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in the early days of 2021. He will share his experience, including his continuing struggle with COVID symptoms.
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by Jeff Tieman, President & CEO VAHHS As we close the door on 2021 and look to the new year, here’s what I sadly cannot tell you—that COVID will be gone and life will return to how it was in January of 2020. We are never going back. COVID is here to stay in one form or another.
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by John McClaughry The Department of Public Service has just released its 2022 Comprehensive Energy Plan (CEP). Aside from the “stakeholders”, it’s probably fair to say that very few Vermonters - and very few of their legislators – will be able to penetrate the CEP’s acronym-ridden complexities. Like the Vermont Climate Council’s Climate Action Plan, the CEP is determined to drive down 80 percent of today’s level of carbon dioxide emissions by persuading, subsidizing, or forcing Vermonters to use much less – or no - fossil fuel for electricity, vehicles and heating, until by 2050 90percent of all energy use qualifies as renewable.
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Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Governor Phil Scott, and Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint came together Monday to discuss Vermont’s nursing workforce crisis. Estimates suggest that Vermont needs to add approximately 9,000 nurses to the state’s workforce in the next seven years. However, Vermont’s nursing schools are currently only able to graduate between 500 and 600 nurses each year – less than half of the number needed to keep up with retirements and those leaving the workforce.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Corrections detected an incarcerated case of COVID-19 during intake quarantine at Northwest State Correctional Facility (NWSCF) in St Albans. Vermont DOC conducted the test on January 1, with results returned January 3. This is the first positive incarcerated case detected at the Franklin County facility since December 14; that case was also found through intake quarantine testing. There are currently three positive incarcerated cases throughout the state’s facilities.
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Vermont Business Magazine Community Bank System, Inc (NYSE: CBU) announced today the appointment of Matthew K Durkee as Senior Vice President and New England President of Community Bank, NA. Durkee will join Community Bank, NA’s team in Vermont and will be based at its New England headquarters located in Williston.