Child care programs that had to close amid the coronavirus outbreak may reopen starting June 1 and camps may operate this summer under soon-to-be-issued health and safety guidance, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott announced Friday.
The news comes as the state takes steps to gradually reopen the economy and some parents return to work.
Child care centers may start transitioning on May 18 to bring back staff, conduct training, and prepare for reopening, Scott said. The updated guidance is expected next week.
To meet health and safety requirements, Vermont is creating about $6 million in restart grants for the programs, he said. Child care and camp workers will be included in the state’s expanded COVID-19 testing, officials said.
“For thousand of Vermonters, summer camp and summer day camp it’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” said Ted Brady, deputy secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. “And the hundreds of camps across Vermont provide either child care, educational and enrichment programs, and summer meal programs.”
But he said summer camp will “look different this year.” Some camps have decided not to operate and others have adapted or will need to, said Brady, but he did not say how. The new health and safety requirements for camps is being developed and will be issued in the coming weeks, he said. Overnight camps also serve out-of-state residents, which will require additional mitigation, he said.
Meanwhile in New Hampshire, the task force advising Gov. Chris Sununu on reopening New Hampshire’s economy won’t be drafting specific guidance for every industry, its leader said Friday.
Doing so would be impractical and amount to “inappropriate micromanagement,” task force leader D.J. Bettencourt said Friday at the close of a two-hour public input session.
While the group is examining specific sectors such as lodging, amusements, sports and religious gatherings, Bettencourt said some industries may fall under the universal guidelines that have been issued for all businesses regarding screening of employees, workplace cleaning and other practices to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus.
“We are looking to put a list together that we can take to public health and say, ‘We believe these businesses can go forward using the universal guidance documents, and we’ll see what they say,” he said. “The challenge all of us have is that there are such diverse views on how to move forward.”
The task force took dozens of calls Friday, ranging from a father concerned about his daughter’s July wedding to a tattoo artist who said if he can’t open his business in June, he won’t have a business left to run in July.
“We will continue to try to balance getting businesses open in a safe way, guided by public health, and we will do that as quickly as we can,” Bettencourt said.
Sununu last week announced specific guidelines for the reopening of retail stores, golf courses, outdoor restaurant dining and hair salons over the next few weeks.
As Vermont ramps up coronavirus testing, it’s adding more pop-up testing sites for health care workers, first responders and child care providers who are serving essential workers.
One will be open on Saturday in Colchester. Additional testing spots for those workers will be open next week in Bennington, Brattleboro, and Hartford, the Vermont Department of Health said Friday.
The Colchester clinic will be held at the Vermont Public Health Laboratory. It’s by appointment only and not open to the general public.
Members of the public, even those with mild symptoms, are encouraged to contact their primary care providers to get referred to a testing site, the Health Department said.
People who do not have a primary care provider may call 211 to connect with a clinic for referral to a test site, the department said.
New Hampshire’s public four-year colleges and universities and its community colleges plan to welcome students back to their campuses across the state this fall, officials said Friday.
The University System of New Hampshire and the Community College System are working with state leaders and health professionals to develop guidelines and criteria to support a safe return, while also preparing for other scenarios should it be necessary to continue some form of remote learning.
“We are pleased to speak as one voice for public higher education in New Hampshire to say that we will be here to serve students this coming academic year,” said Susan Huard, interim chancellor of the community college system, which consists of seven schools.
Four schools make up the University System of New Hampshire: Granite State College, Keene State College, Plymouth State University and the University of New Hampshire.
The April revenue picture in Vermont has been calculated and, as expected, it reflects the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. General fund revenue collections were almost 57%, or $141 million, below what had been previously forecast, officials said Friday.
In addition to a loss in revenue due to declines in economic activities, the state extended many tax filing deadlines and deferred payments.
Separately, the state transportation fund was more than 23.5%, or nearly $5.9 million, below target. The education fund was almost 21% or just over $10 million below target.
Scott and the Legislature plan to work together to confront the budget gap.
On Friday, the Vermont Department of Health reported three new positive cases of the coronavirus, for a total of 919. The total number of deaths remained the same as Thursday at 53.
As of Friday, 2,947 people in New Hampshire had tested positive for the virus, an increase of 104 from the previous day. There have been at least 121 coronavirus-related deaths in the state.