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Vermont Business Magazine Rutland Economic Development Corporation (REDC) announced Tuesday that it has received authorization to offer an Emergency Loan Program through its Revolving Loan Fund to assist businesses that are impacted by COVID-19. USDA Rural Development has authorized REDC to use $150,000 from its Revolving Loan Fund for the COVID-19 Emergency Loan Program.

Vermont Business Magazine For the first time in its 73-year history, Shelburne Museum will not open for summer due to concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic, Museum Director Thomas Denenberg announced. All exhibition buildings, the grounds and the Museum Store will remain closed through the spring and summer months. Exhibitions will be canceled or postponed. Events and activities, educational programming and rental events will be canceled or rescheduled. The museum’s administrative offices are also closed, with staff working remotely until public health officials advise it is safe to return to offices.

Vermont Business Magazine There are a lot of healthy choices you can make every day, but this one feeds the soul AND others in need. The new Foodbank Farmer’s Market sock from Darn Tough in Northfield is knit to service the Vermont Foodbank, with 100 percent of its proceeds. We looked at ways we could help with COVID-19 response. The fact is, we knit, we do not cut and sew - we're not set up for that - and mask making wasn't something we could just order up and get working on. But we had socks, and we knew if there's something we could do quick, it was make more socks. Something unique to benefit people.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) announced today the promotion of longtime aide Kathryn Becker Van Haste to fill the role of State Director. Van Haste began working for Senator Sanders in 2013 in Washington, D.C. where she served on both his Senate Veterans Affairs and Budget Committee staffs. Most recently, she has worked in the Vermont office on health care and veterans' issues.

Vermont Business Magazine Effective, May 5, 2020, in accordance with Governor Phil Scott’s order, Rutland Regional Medical Center will resume outpatient surgeries and procedures, in-person physician clinic visits, and diagnostic imaging services. These services will come back on-line in a controlled and phased way while following strict protocols from the Centers for Disease Control and Vermont Department of Health.

Vermont Business Magazine Effective May 5, 2020, Rutland Regional Medical Center will now provide laboratory services at the former Affiliated Lab Services location at 65 Allen Street in Rutland. Northern Light Laboratory, the parent company of Affiliated, which is based in Maine, ceased providing lab services in Vermont on May 1, 2020.

“As soon as Affiliated alerted us about their plan to pull their operations out of Vermont back in February, we began to do the work to transition the space to a Rutland Regional Lab Draw station,” said Jonathan Reynolds, Vice President of Clinical Services at Rutland Regional Medical Center. “We have hired the majority of the Affiliated staff, so the same familiar faces will be in the lab, and we’ve acclimated Rutland Regional lab techs to the space as well.”

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan announced today that he secured from Comcast a donation of 250 Chromebooks to a Vermont school district in need. As Vermont school children have shifted to remote learning, some pupils in the Orange-East Supervisory Union (OESU) did not have reliable access to tablets or computers. The Chromebooks were delivered on Monday.

Vermont Business Magazine US Small Business Administration (SBA) announced Monday that agricultural businesses are now eligible for SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance programs. SBA’s EIDL portal has reopened and is accepting applications from agricultural businesses only as a result of funding authorized by Congress. The legislation provides additional funding for farmers and other agricultural businesses affected by COVID-19. Also Monday, Governor Scott issued an amendment to Addendum 3 to his executive order, allowing limited elective health care procedures to resume. Outpatient clinic visits and diagnostic imaging can resume immediately if providers demonstrate they are adhering to physical distancing and relevant CDC guidelines. Providers may also begin to perform outpatient surgeries and procedures that have a minimal impact on inpatient hospital bed capacity.

by Joshua T White, MD, Gifford At 3 pm Wednesday, April 29, the Vermont Department of Health was reporting no new COVID cases in Vermont for a 24-hour period. This is a stunning accomplishment, and one that I would not have imagined possible. On the same day, New York reported more than 4,500 new cases and Massachusetts just under 2,000 new cases. And here we were at zero. This is particularly incredible given that a number of Midwestern states are now in the unfortunate position of realizing that a rural environment is not a guaranteed defense against widespread disease. Vermonters should be proud.

​Vermont Business Magazine YES! Now that Governor Phil Scott has made the decision to open up doctor’s offices to non-emergent care, the leadership of Vermont Orthopaedic Society (VOS) want to let you and your family know that it is safe to go see your orthopedic surgeon. The physicians of the VOS have met and put into place required safety measures.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Representative Ro Khanna (Calif-17) unveiled on Monday the Emergency Medical Supplies Procurement Act to mobilize the federal government to close the gap in the production of health care equipment. "Outrageously," they said, nearly three months after the first known COVID-19 death in the United States, health care providers across the country are continuing to report supply shortages. Unfortunately, the Trump administration has failed to utilize the full powers of the federal government, including special authorities like the Defense Production Act (DPA), to respond to the urgent needs of states and communities to save lives.