Category: Newsletter

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COVID-19 Resources March 25

Governor Bullock’s Announcement

Yesterday, Governor Bullock extended closures of public schools, and dine-in food service and alcoholic beverage businesses. Get more details on the Montana Newsroom announcement.

State of Montana

The State of Montana has put together a website to gather all State resources. You can find the site at https://covid19.mt.gov/

The state has also published a map to track the number of cases at https://montana.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=7c34f3412536439491adcc2103421d4b It is updated at 8:00 am and 4:30 pm.

Teton County Resources

The Teton County Health Department has made a COVID-19 page on the County website https://tetoncomt.org/2020/03/23/teton-county-covid-19-updates/ and is also regularly updating their Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/healthytetoncounty/. You can reach them by phone at 406-466-2505.

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Family Connections Child Care Services Announcement

For the health and safety for all in light of COVID-19, Family Connections offices in Great Falls and Havre are closed to the public. Our staff is still working and available. Contact us via email fcinfo@familyconnectionsmt.org or call us in Great Falls at 406-761-6010.

Family Connections Child Care Services and Emergency Related Services Available:

  • Refer Emergency workers who need access to child care with referrals to child cares with openings.
  • Refer families whose child care closed or need to find child care to child cares with openings.
  • Best Beginnings Child Care Scholarships to help eligible families pay for child care.
  • Child Care Professional Development courses are available online for child care providers.
  • Help businesses create solutions to child care for their employees.
  • Assist child care programs and families with child care policies and rules from state entities.
  • Connect child care workers whose child care has closed with open child cares or emergency child care needing additional staff.
  • Help child care programs that have changes in enrollment or experienced emergency expenses access emergency funding.

Family Connections is a private nonprofit entity and is the Child Care Resource and Referral agency proudly serving twenty-three counties in north-central and northeastern Montana.

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Governor Bullock Announces Closure of Dine-In Food Service and Alcoholic Beverage Businesses, and Other Activities that Pose Enhanced Risks to Curtail Spread of COVID-19

The Teton County Sanitarian and the Teton County Health Department are available if you have any questions about this directive:

Teton County Health Department
Health@TetonMT.org
(406) 466-2562

Austin Moyer
Teton County Sanitarian
AMoyer@TetonCountyMT.gov
(406) 466-2150

They recommend that all businesses prepare for the likely possibility that this directive will be extended beyond March 27th, and currently unaffected businesses should make preparations so that they are not blindsided by a similar order on all “non-essential” businesses. Unfortunately, we would not expect to get advanced notice regarding such an order, so businesses should make sure their employees understand what plans they have in place before they are needed.

This directive permits food delivery and takeout

To curtail the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Montana, Governor Steve Bullock today announced measures to close dine-in food service and alcoholic beverage businesses and other activities that pose enhanced health risks, effective at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 20, 2020. This Directive expires at 11:59 p.m. on March 27, 2020, the same day that school closures are set to expire, though the date will likely be extended.

“Both young and older Montanans, in urban and rural communities, have tested positive for coronavirus, making it even more clear that this virus impacts us all and that these actions are imperative to protecting our friends and neighbors,” said Governor Bullock. “We face extraordinary health risks – and with it even further risks to our economic and social well-being – if we do not act now. I do not take this decision lightly and it was done so in consultation with public health professionals. Montanans, too, need to take this seriously. It’s up to all of us to stop the spread of this virus.”

Under the Directive, the following places are closed to ingress, egress, use, and occupancy by members of the public:

  • Restaurants, food courts, cafes, coffeehouses, and other similar establishments offering food or beverage for on-premises consumption.
  • Alcoholic beverage service businesses, including bars, taverns, brewpubs, breweries, microbreweries, distilleries, wineries, tasting rooms, special licensees, clubs, and other establishments offering alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption.
  • Cigar bars.
  • Health clubs, health spas, gyms, aquatic centers, pools and hot springs, indoor facilities at ski areas, climbing gyms, fitness studios, and indoor recreational facilities.
  • Movie and performance theaters, nightclubs, concert halls, bowling alleys, bingo halls, and music halls.
  • Casinos.

The places subject to this Directive are permitted and encouraged to offer food and beverage using delivery service, window service, walk-up service, drive-through service, or drive-up service, and to use precautions in doing so to mitigate the potential transmission of COVID-19, including social distancing.

Read the Governor’s full directive:

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COVID-19 Guidance for Businesses – Teton County Health Department

Dear Teton County Business Owners,

The Teton County Health Department is recommending all citizens take steps to limit unnecessary interactions between people. It is important for businesses to continue to provide valuable services to the community while enabling your customers and employees to practice social distancing. The CDC has recommended the following precautions:

  • Actively encourage sick employees to stay home.  Prevent the spread of illness within your business by having a non-punitive, flexible illness policy that allows ill employees to remain at home. Ill employees may have trouble getting a healthcare provider’s note as healthcare facilities restrict services to non-emergency situations. Employees who develop symptoms during work hours should be sent home.
  • Minimize exposure between employees with each other and the public. Consider flexible worksites and flexible work hours in order to reduce contact between individuals. Allowing employees to work from home or to work flexible hours will reduce the chance of spreading illness between employees by reducing the number of people in your business at one time. You should also evaluate what interaction with the general public is actually necessary. You should also provide options to the public who are practicing social distancing, such as doing curbside pick-up for food or changing in-person meetings to phone calls.
  • Provide a hygienic workplace. Employees should always have access to handwashing facilities and frequently touched surfaces (doorknobs, workstations, countertops, points of sale, menus) should be wiped down with a disinfecting wipe multiple times per day. A solution of 1 gallon of water and 1/3rd cup of bleach will be sufficient for disinfecting surfaces.
  • Spread awareness. Use reliable sources to relay accurate information to your employees and customers so they can make informed, measured decisions. The CDC has several one-page fact sheets that should be posted around your establishment. They can all be found here, though we would recommend providing the What You Need To Know sheet to employees and posting the Symptoms of Coronavirus and Stop the Spread of Germs in visible locations. Keep up to date on the CDC’s guidance for employers.  Additionally, a printable flyer on social distancing has been attached.
  • Manage employee stress. Uncertainty about the pandemic can cause stress or anxiety in your workforce. Work with your employees to develop and implement a plan that addresses the above guidance. Employees should know how the business will deal with increased absenteeism and a change in demands in their lives, such as the sudden need for childcare.

Please contact the Teton County Health Department at 466-2562 if you have questions, or would like to discuss any specific modifications that you business can take.  We are happy to help!

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Montana Department of Commerce: Coronavirus Taskforce Update

Montana Governor's Coronavirus Task Force

The state recognizes the substantial economic impact that some businesses have experienced due to novel coronavirus or COVID-19. The Department of Commerce in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration are working to hard to make emergency funding available for those businesses.

When disaster assistance will be available in Montana

  • If a small business has suffered substantial economic injury as a result of COVID-19, it may be eligible for financial assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
  • Small businesses and small agricultural cooperatives that have suffered substantial economic injury may be eligible for the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program.
  • Substantial economic injury is the inability of a business to meet its obligations as they mature and to pay its ordinary and necessary operating expenses.
  • An EIDL can help meet necessary financial obligations that a business could have met had the disaster not occurred.
  • It provides relief from economic injury caused directly by the disaster and permits the business to maintain a reasonable working capital position during the period affected by the disaster.
  • The SBA provides EIDL assistance only to those businesses that SBA determines are unable to obtain credit elsewhere.
  • The loan amount will be based on the business’ actual economic injury and financial needs.
  • The interest rate on EIDLs is currently at 3.75 percent per year.
  • The term of the loans cannot exceed 30 years.
  • Terms and conditions will be determined by the business’ ability to repay the loan

Listed below is a step by step process for businesses that have experienced substantial economic injury as a result of COVID-19

  1. Complete the Economic Injury Worksheets as soon as possible, click here to access the worksheet, and submit it to your county Disaster and Emergency Services, (DES) Office.
  2. If your county does not have a DES office or if you are unable to contact them, the worksheet can be sent to MTDES@mt.gov.
  3. Your county DES office will submit the worksheet to the state, and the state will submit it to the SBA along with a request for an SBA declaration.
  4. Once the SBA has issued an Economic Injury Disaster Loan declaration for your county, businesses will be eligible to apply for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan.
  5. Additional information on the loan program and how to apply can be found at the SBA website here.

For additional information, please contact the SBA disaster assistance customer service center. Call 1-800-659-2955 (TTY: 1-800-877-8339) or e-mail disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.