Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Bar Harbor Bank & Trust has made donations to two Vermont non-profit organizations to help them deliver their adult education programs remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Central Vermont Adult Basic Education (CVABE) and Vermont Adult Learning (VAL) each received $1,500 donations to provide distance learning technology for low-income, adult education students to continue with their educational programs, which include GED and high school diploma.

by Aimee Stephenson, PhD The justification for the economic shutdown and stay-at-home order was to ‘flatten the curve’ in the name of ensuring our hospitals were not overrun by a predicted tidal wave of COVID-19 patients. The purpose of social distancing is to spread out cases, preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed, and in turn, avoiding deaths from COVID due to lack of available medical care.

As the reason for the shutdown was to avoid a particular cause of death (lack of hospital capacity), it would follow that the most relevant metric for deciding whether to re-open the economy is hospital capacity. The key question our leaders should be asking is whether we currently have an issue with hospital capacity? The answer to this question is a resounding ‘no’.

Vermont Business Magazine The Health Department will enhance its contact tracing efforts using SARA Alert technology, a text-based illness monitoring system that will allow us to keep in touch with contacts and help them manage symptoms. The state plans to handle 300-900 cases and contacts per week under the new strategy. The state currently has 53 trained contact tracers who could handle up to 500 contacts per week and is implementing a plan to train additional tracers as needed.

Vermont Business Magazine ACCD has updated the Phased Restart Work Safe Guidance for businesses, including additional details for workplace communal spaces and construction in multi-unit properties. The most recent guidance regarding Work Safe practices can always be found on the sector guidance and FAQs for businesses pages.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD, said at the governor's press briefing today that the state will increase testing for COVID-19 to include even those showing mild symptoms. Already, the state is testing anyone who is showing typical symptoms of the novel coronavirus, those who might have been exposed, frontline health care workers and those at institutions like nursing homes or correctional facilities where there has been a case. Now, the state is planning to test 1,000 Vermonters a day, seven days a week. The tests, however, will not include the random general public yet.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I), and Representative Peter Welch (D) on Wednesday sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Carranza urging them to provide clear and official guidance about the loan forgiveness provisions in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Vermont Business Magazine Orvis, a luxury clothing retailer with headquarters in Arlington, VT, answered Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s (SVHC) call for personal protective equipment (PPE) with a shipment of 750 cloth masks.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that it has provided more than $24 million in direct deposit payments to Vermonters through the newly created Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. At his Wednesday press briefing, Governor Phil Scott said 8,500 claims were filled and back-dated as needed to the beginning of the month.

Suresh Garimella, President, University of Vermont As we, and colleges and universities across the country, approach the end of a semester the likes of which we have never seen, we now face questions about the potential impact COVID-19 may have on fall operations. We approach these questions using the philosophy that has guided the University of Vermont since its founding in 1791: gather information and insight, assess it in a way that is balanced and pragmatic, and chart a course that we can follow together.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan has joined a group of attorneys general in urging the telecommunications industry to make further commitments to protect consumers who are struggling financially as a result of COVID-19 and in calling upon the FCC for support.

by Tim Volk Vermont is broken. Don’t take my word for it. Just survey the policy failures in recent years. The debacle at the Vermont State Colleges System is just the latest in a series of failures of inaction or half action. Chancellor (now former) Jeb Spaulding finally called the Legislature’s bluff with a proposal to shutter Northern Vermont University and its two campuses and to consolidate Vermont Technical College in Williston. You can criticize him for poor tact and timing but not for honesty and consistency.

Vermont Business Magazine NBT Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ: NBTB) reported net income of $10.4 million, or $0.23 per diluted common share, for the three months ended March 31, 2020. NBT’s results in the first quarter of 2020 reflect the Current Expected Credit Losses accounting methodology, including the estimated impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on expected credit losses. Net income was down 64% from the previous quarter and from the first quarter of 2019 ($0.66) primarily due to higher provision for loan losses related to the deterioration of economic conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Norwich, NY-based NBT Bank has branches in Northwest Vermont.