Current News

Vermont Business Magazine There are many effects of COVID-19 upon our community. Learning to stay at home, keeping loved ones safe, working from home with children home and engaged in distance learning, helping more with schoolwork, working on the front lines, hearing the news cycle report on cases and deaths daily, experiencing an illness or death in the family, and more. The demands on everyone are overwhelming.

A recent tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 45 percent of Americans said that the pandemic has affected their mental health, with 19 percent saying it has had a ‘major impact’. So if you feel COVID-19 is having an impact on your mental health, you are not alone.

Vermont Business Magazine Resort ecommerce and marketing platform Inntopia continues to ramp up their support of Goggles for Docs as the effort continues to gather momentum. Goggles for Docs helps facilitate donations of new or used ski goggles to health care workers on the front line battling COVID-19 who do not yet have access to personal protection equipment. The campaign was started by Jon Schaefer, Owner and General Manager of Berkshire East Resort, and was launched with the help of Gregg Blanchard, Inntopia’s VP of Marketing on the afternoon of March 29, just under three weeks ago.

Vermont Business Magazine Monday marked Lineworker Appreciation Day, celebrated by the nation’s electric cooperatives, and VEC is honoring all the committed men and women who work hard on the front lines to keep the lights on for our members.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The good news continues to be that Vermont appears to be at or near the peak of the COVID-19 infection rate. The bad news is that the economic impact on individual Vermonters continues, as the backlog of unemployment insurance cases continues to leave thousands of claims unpaid. The state has assured those still waiting for checks that they will not lose any money as they work fix the process.

Vermont Business Magazine At a press conference Wednesday, Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD said Vermont may be seeing a trend toward cases beginning to plateau. He emphasized, however, that as we look to the future, we will still need to act to prevent spread of the virus and to protect Vermonters from getting infected. As we consider, in the Governor’s words, loosening the spigot, and easing restrictions, it may not mean an end to social distancing or limitations on large gatherings. Vermonters should not expect a quick end to the need for facial coverings or reducing our focus on respiratory hygiene. This is a long game, and individual efforts to prevent the spread of germs are essential, as is our continued testing and contact tracing efforts to contain outbreaks.

by Gabriella Marchesi, Community News Service Governor Scott's "Stay Home, Stay Safe" order, which is in effect until May 15 and halts all non-essential work, has disrupted the Burlington International Airport's spring construction plans. Construction on the taxiway realignment project and other improvements to tarmac areas near the airport’s terminal is postponed until May 15, as it is not deemed to be an essential service under the governor's order.

Vermont Business Magazine Union Bankshares, Inc (NASDAQ - UNB) today announced results for the three months ended March 31, 2020, and declared a regular quarterly cash dividend. Consolidated net income for the first quarter was $2.2 million, or $0.49 per share, compared to $2.6 million, or $0.59 per share, for the same period in 2019. The reduction in earnings from the 2019 comparison period was due to a combination of factors including an anticipated flat interest rate environment, planned technology infrastructure spending, discretionary hiring of high value staff to allow continued growth in the franchise, continued development of newer branch locations, ongoing competition in all aspects of the business, and the initial impacts of the outbreak of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan and 13 other state attorneys general submitted a letter today to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denouncing the EPA’s March 26 announcement that it would roll back environmental enforcement. The announcement came in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The memorandum outlines a nationwide policy on the civil enforcement of federal environmental laws to respond to the crisis.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) today announced an emergency regulation requiring commercial insurers to waive cost-sharing requirements, such as co-payments, coinsurance or deductible requirements, for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. The emergency regulation is retroactive to March 13, 2020, the date that Governor Scott declared a State of Emergency.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Small Business Administration has approved more than $853 million in loans to 4,896 Vermont businesses, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) announced on Wednesday. The assistance comes from the Paycheck Protection Program that was created as part of the CARES Act Congress passed in late March. Leahy, the Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has had a leading role in crafting the three emergency COVID-19 bills.

“Help is finally on the way for many Vermont small businesses. One of our top priorities in the CARES Act was to ensure businesses would have access to capital to help them persevere through this crisis. Our banks, credit unions and other lenders have done an extraordinary job under very trying circumstances to process these applications. Thanks to their hard work and partnership with SBA many Vermont businesses now have access to a lifeline.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont airports have received more than $9 million from the federal government to deal with the faillout from decreased passenger service related to COVID-19. Burlington International Airport (BTV) received just over $8.7 million of that. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Senator Bernie Sanders, (I-Vermont), and Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) Wednesday announced $9,020,115 in grants to support 10 Vermont airports during the crisis. The funds are part of $10 billion in federal assistance for airports included in the CARES Act that was passed by Congress and signed into law last month.

Vermont Business Magazine Getting COVID-19 test results as fast as possible ensures providers can make timely important clinical decisions for their patients – and patients can swiftly take steps for their health and the protection of people around them. When the daily commercial flights that transported COVID-19 specimens from Burlington to Mayo Clinic Laboratories in Rochester, MN, started to be cancelled, a group of fast-acting health care administrators and business leaders sprang into action to find a solution.