The ongoing struggle
Every day brings sobering reminders that even amid Vermont’s progress, there are always challenges to confront during the pandemic. The favorably low numbers of new COVID-19 cases in the state don’t tell the whole story.
For me, the big reminder this week was seeing Northfield-based sock-maker Darn Tough cut nearly 50 jobs, which is a lot for a small Vermont community. That turned my head, because, in my nearly 18 years as a Vermont journalist, Darn Tough had always been one of those companies that was innovating and surging upward. Their quarterly announcements always yielded impressive progress. As the company said in its Facebook announcement on Monday, “A few months ago we couldn’t grow fast enough.” (Employees were informed of the decision on June 19, Vermont Public Radio reported.) Darn Tough, while it has brought back about half of its workers, will not meet its financial projections for 2020, according to VPR.
This reinforced a stubborn fact that someone told me early on during Vermont’s response to the pandemic: No one is immune to its financial impact. Clearly, dealing with the economic fallout will be an ongoing factor for many months, perhaps years. Summer revenue — the lifeblood of so many businesses here — hangs very much in the balance.
State lawmakers continue to advance relief packages for businesses using federal aid, and they hope more federal assistance is on the way. On Monday, U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, of Vermont, was in Burlington to unveil bipartisan legislation called the Restaurants Act, which creates a $120 billion grant program to help local restaurants weather the financial storm during and after the pandemic. During the first 14 days of the program, the funds would only be made available to restaurants with $1.5 million or less in profit, to ensure that small establishments can benefit.
Hopefully this bill and others offering more COVID aid will make their way to final approval soon at the federal level. That would allow the state to keep working toward stabilizing the economy in the coming months. Now is the time for Vermont’s collaborative spirit to make an impact. We know it works, and it’s never been more important.
— Gareth Henderson
