Current News

VA Video Connect visits increase over 1,800% regionwide during COVID-19 pandemic

Vermont Business Magazine The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced that video telehealth appointments to Veterans’ homes increased over 1000%, as Veterans increasingly chose virtual care through VA Video Connect during the COVID-19 pandemic. The VA White River Junction Healthcare System in White River Junction is up 1,591 percent (4,563 visits).

In New England, VA medical centers and sites of care have conducted 87,296 VA Video Connect appointments between February and July 1. Because VA New England already had a robust telehealth infrastructure in place, the health care system was able to ramp up its telehealth capabilities to meet increased demand.

Vermont Business Magazine To continue meeting patient needs for essential sexual and reproductive health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) will begin offering at-home sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis next week. This new service comes as public health experts warn that STI rates appear to be on the rise during COVID-19 pandemic as health centers are seeing a decline in in-person visits and STI contact tracers are being diverted to COVID-19 contact tracing.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced actions on 10 bills passed by the Legislature. Bills with a corresponding message to the Legislature on racial justince and workers compensation for emergency workers responding to COVID-19 are included.

• Establishing a well-structured, collaborative senior leadership team
• Championing the transition to a more diverse Board of Directors

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health is reporting six new cases today of COVID-19 and 24 since Friday for a statewide total of 1,301. There have not been any deaths in nearly four weeks, which are holding at 56. A commentary published by two University of Vermont pediatric infectious disease specialists in the journal Pediatrics, the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, concludes that children infrequently transmit COVID-19 to each other or to adults and that many schools can and should reopen in the fall — provided they follow appropriate social distancing guidelines and take into account rates of transmission in their communities.

UVM Today A commentary published in the journal Pediatrics, the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, concludes that children infrequently transmit Covid-19 to each other or to adults and that many schools, provided they follow appropriate social distancing guidelines and take into account rates of transmission in their community, can and should reopen in the fall. The authors, Benjamin Lee, MD and William V Raszka, Jr, MD, are both pediatric infectious disease specialists on the faculty of the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. Dr Raszka is an associate editor of Pediatrics.

Vermont Business Magazine The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Massachusetts against the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), challenges what the coalition calls the federal government’s “cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States.”

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University has been awarded a $138,917, three-year grant from the Davis Educational Foundation for “Building a Humanities-Centered Interdisciplinary Curriculum to Foster Citizen Scholars,” the second phase of the Norwich Humanities Initiative. This work aims to create an interdisciplinary minor that combines the humanities with technical and professional studies.

The Norwich Humanities Initiative launched in 2018-19 with the support of a $35,000 Humanities Connections Planning Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The initiative was created to promote interdisciplinary teaching and learning and to foster the development of citizen scholars. In May 2020, Norwich University was awarded a $100,000 Humanities Connections Implementation Grant from the NEH to continue this work.

Vermont Business Magazine Windham County residents of all ages and various employment needs are now able to connect with employers and learn about local employment opportunities virtually. The website is designed to support job-seekers, especially those impacted by COVID-19, as face-to-face hiring events remain cancelled for the foreseeable future and many Vermonters are unemployed due to the crisis.

The website will serve as a replacement for the annual Southern Vermont Career Expo, traditionally held every fall in Brattleboro, and the Expo IS managed and staffed by the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation in partnership with the Vermont Department of Labor and the Southern Vermont Career Expo team.

Vermont Business Magazine In light of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Vermont will not require standardized test score submissions for undergraduate students applying in 2020-21. This decision reflects uncertainty surrounding test-taking opportunities and aligns with changes being made in higher education throughout the United States.

Vermont Business Magazine Along with recent guidance on money for housing and preventing homelessness, college reopening and the $163 million in grants for businesses and nonprofits, new rules also allow for larger gatherings for outside events under specific conditions.

by Bruce Edwards, Vermont Business Magazine Frank Cioffi didn’t sugarcoat what Vermont and Chittenden County are facing: “COVID was a beast and still is a beast and we’re going to be awhile recovering from it,” said Cioffi, president of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corp. Cioffi has the facts to back up the toll the pandemic could take on Chittenden County’s businesses. He cites a Brookings Institution analysis that of the 6,631 small businesses in the county, 21 percent are at immediate risk of failure, 30 percent face a near term risk and 47 percent face a longterm risk.