A Message From The Chairwoman – Payin’ It Forward
For seven consecutive Small Business Saturdays, County Executive Maryellen Odell and I visited 5-6 businesses countywide to shop and promote Putnam County retail in one day. Normally we would take pics and post, doing our best to get the word out. This year was a little different. Since Maryellen was visiting family, she was unable to join us. To fill her giant shoes, this year I was joined by other Chamber leaders and elected officials: Legislators, Amy Sayegh, Bill Gouldman and Nancy Montgomery, Assemblyman Byrne, Henry Boyd, Carmel/ Kent Chamber, Bill Nulk of the Business Council (PCBC), Jason Kormes of the Putnam Valley Business Network and Jackie Annabi of the Putnam Valley Town Board as well as Senator Serino’s office.
We decided to go BIG and transform our visits into 3 days of tours, stopping at 14 stores plus a few restaurants we dined at along the way. The 3 days of photos and videos will be turned into a winter long campaign promoting Putnam County Retail. We will run this alongside our restaurant promotion through January.
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To help fund the promotion we again ran a membership promo. Retailers that joined at any level up to our Executive Level (up to $295), would become a PCBC member, be included in this Holiday/Winter promotion PLUS another event planned in 2021. This drive raised the money to cover the video production and advertising.
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Just like the response to our Restaurant promotion, people decided they wanted to step up and support Putnam County Businesses. The Carmel/ Kent Chamber of commerce sponsored four businesses, Putnam Valley Business Network Supported two, Kent Countryside Nursery and Landscaping joined and sponsored two, Carmel Flower shop who was sponsored, paid it forward and sponsored one.p
Gratitude, generosity and camaraderie were the themes of this year’s Small Business campaign. Everyone we visited had a whole different take on business and life than in years prior. Business owners seemed cautiously optimistic, reflecting recent news reports. According to CNBC, “The National Retail Federation expects 2020 holiday sales to rise between 3.6% and 5.2% year over year, amounting to between $755.3 billion and $766.7 billion. NRF President and CEO Matt Shay said he expects the industry could have a “strong finish” to 2020, in spite of the challenges from the coronavirus pandemic. Americans have more money to spend that they were previously using on things like travel, NRF said, while there is also renewed hope for the distribution of an effective Covid vaccine.”
Retail stores have made arrangements for safer shopping, either from home or curb side pickup. The secret to success is to be “top of mind” to your community. People have more time and (according to CNBC) more money to shop locally, so they need to know where to go for the items they desire. Our promotion is aimed to jumpstart the holiday season and get people thinking of how they can shop local before they hit Amazon. Together we can be the heroes of our own local economy.
NYS Coronavirus Update: The Winter Plan, Explained
We are entering a new phase in the war against COVID, and therefore a new strategy is required. We need to ensure that hospitals have enough capacity and enough staff to deal with the fall and winter surge that is upon us. Tonight’s update will be longer than usual, so bear with us, as the details are significant.p
The Winter Plan to combat the COVID surge is multi-tiered and puts to good use the hard-won lessons we learned from the spring. First, we will manage hospital capacity to enhance and equalize care. Second, we will increase and balance testing resources and availability. Third, we will keep schools open safely. Fourth, we will try to prevent viral spread that stems from small gatherings. And fifth and finally, we will operationalize an equitable and safe vaccination program. (You can read more about the plan here, but many key aspects of it are included below.)
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A vaccine is coming and this crisis will end. But until that happens, we must not overstress our hospital systems so we can save lives. That is the point of the Winter Plan, but it’s also a mission we all must get behind. We’ve been through the worst but we’re not done yet.
The State Department of Health is implementing new emergency hospital measures to manage capacity. p
Hospitals are directed to identify retired medical staff, prepare to add 50 percent bed capacity, and confirm they have the mandatory 90-day stockpile of PPE, among other measures.
The State will refine the criteria for Yellow, Orange and Red Zones.
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The refinement will take into account important factors including the rate of hospitalizations, available hospital and ICU beds, and hospital staffing, and is part of our larger strategy of protecting hospital capacity. These changes will be implemented after experts evaluate any “post-Thanksgiving effect” in the COVID numbers.
If a hospital system is overwhelmed, we can pull an “Emergency Stop.”
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In addition to the three existing micro-cluster zone levels (Yellow, Orange and Red), New York will add a new “Emergency Stop” level, which will effectively put that area under the NY on PAUSE guidelines from the spring. This new level would be used if a hospital system in that area was at serious risk of becoming overwhelme
The State will encourage school districts to keep schools open, particularly K-8 schools. p
Our efforts will be focused on keeping K-8 and Special Education open as long as it can be done safely—using sustainable, ongoing testing. While local school districts are able to close at levels under the State’s mandatory closure rule, they are urged to keep K-8 schools open whenever it is safe.
Small gatherings have now been identified as the number one spread of COVID-19.
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At least 65 percent of all cases come from these settings and sixteen states, including New York, have already limited gatherings to no more than 10 people. While the government’s ability to monitor small gatherings is limited, public education on the safety concerns of small gatherings is crucial. Help us spread the word on the danger these gatherings pose.
It will likely be months before a critical mass of vaccinations becomes available. p
Even though a vaccine is expected to be released in the coming weeks, we’re still a while away from having a vaccine that is widely available. As the State operationalizes vaccine distribution, we continue to base our plan on three pillars: Fairness, Equity and Safety.
