Rochester, Vermont

Please Donate to Rebuild Rochester Foundation

We have had a number of inquiries from people who would like to support our efforts during the Covid-19 Pandemic, so if you feel you would like to make a donation, you can make your check out to Rebuild Rochester Foundation and mail it to:

Rebuild Rochester Foundation
P.O. Box 119
Rochester, VT 05767

Every contribution will make a difference in someone’s life and it is possible that this fund will be used for other community needs we have not yet identified, since this entire enterprise is so fast moving as the virus continues to spread. The Rebuild Rochester Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization so your contribution is tax-deductable.

Bethel/Royalton Transfer Station change of hours

In light of Governor Scott’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order the Bethel-Royalton Transfer Station will be changing their hours to Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7:00am-1:00pm, effective Friday March 27. If you would like to switch to having your trash/recycling picked up curbside, you may contact Casella Waste Systems at 802-281-4114 or Vesper Trucking at 802-356-4396. You will need to contact them directly for their rates and coverage areas. We thank you in advance for your cooperation during this national crisis

Grocery Delivering Team

Rochester and Hancock volunteers are creating a grocery shopping and delivery service to bring food to people at home in self quarantine due to the possibility of illness, or those who are particularly vulnerable to the virus due to their age or underlying health conditions. These are people who should not be out shopping.

It will begin on Monday March 30. Residents of Hancock or Rochester with this need may call the Rochester Town Office at 767-3631 to request the service. Please ask the clerk, Julie Smith for details when you call. The expectation is that payment for the groceries will be reimbursed to the town by mail.

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer to help with the shopping and delivery of groceries, please email Sue Ribaudo at sue.ribaudo@gmail.com.

From the Rochester Emergency Committee and Board of Selectmen re COVID-19

This is the 2nd of a series of town mailers to provide updated information about the town’s response to COVID-19. The situation is rapidly changing, becoming increasingly urgent that people adhere to safety guidelines for social distancing, by staying home and ceasing non-essential outings. Dr. Erwin Lange of Gifford Medical Center (GMC) Rochester clinic met with us on 3/19 and shared his concerns.

>> Second notice from Town

Reminder

ABLE Waste will be at the Town Office on Saturday, March 21, 2020 for recycling and garbage.

Bethel Royalton Transfer Station Update

Letter From Bethel Royalton Transfer Station COVID 19

Youth baseball postponed

The originally scheduled March 21 first practices in the school gym are postponed until further notice due to the Coronavirus. This includes all age levels from t-ball through 12u. We will pass on to you anything we hear through the Central Vermont Cal Ripken League relating to rescheduling. Any questions please contact Recreation Director Norm at normyo@myfairpoint.net

Town Office Notice

The Rochester Town Office will be closed to the public due to efforts to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus (CORVID-19) The office staff will be working regular hours to help with phone calls, emails and other concerns you may have. Please call ahead for dog licenses, marriage licenses or Birth and Death certificates. We can process them for you by appointment. We also have drop box outside the door for payments. We will not be processing any DMV renewals until our offices re-open.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please know we are here to work with you in any way we can. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to call.

Be safe and be well. Hope to see your smiling faces soon.

Office hours: Tuesday-Friday 8 am-4 pm

Office: 802-767-3631

Thank you,

Julie Smith

White River Valley Ambulance Press Release 3-13-20

White River Valley Ambulance Press Release 3.13.20

Governor Phil Scott Press conference today

FYI- Gov Scott will hold a live press conference on Coronavirus today at 5:30. It will be broadcast on local TV and on social media.

Rochester Community Bulletin Board

21 minutes ago

vtdigger.org/2020/04/03/wear-cloth-masks-in-public-vermonts-health-commissioner-advises/ ... See MoreSee Less

Wear cloth masks in public, Vermont’s health commissioner advises

vtdigger.org

“It is not a substitute for staying home,” Gov. Phil Scott said of masks, “and it is not an excuse to mingle with others.”

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Rochester Community Bulletin Board

1 hour ago

Vic Ribaudo, the Director of our Emergency Management Team, receives reports and updates from the VT State Emergency Operations Center daily. Here are some highlights from the April 2 edition:

Key Updates:
-- Stay At Home orders have been issued in at least 38 states, 48 counties, 14 cities, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
-- Major Disaster Declarations have been awarded in 30 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.
-- Today the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide exceeded 1,000,000.

A major testing push began 3/29/2020:
-- Hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) across the state have new test kits.
-- Drive-up testing is available at Putney's Landmark College, Brattleboro Memorial, Copley, Central Vermont,Dartmouth Hitchcock, North Country, Northwestern, Porter, Springfield, Rutland Regional and UVM Medical Centerhospitals, with variable hours.
-- Testing still requires a referral from your primary care provider.

VT numbers (as of April 2, numbers change daily)
-- Positive test results: 338
-- Total tests conducted: 4,711
-- Deaths: 17
-- Current hospitalizations:29 COVID-19 in-patients, (down 1 from April 1)
-- 42 Persons Under Investigation (PUIs) (down 10 from April 1)
-- 20 COVID-19 patients discharged ... See MoreSee Less

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Rochester Community Bulletin Board

17 hours ago

Important story in the Digger. It shows how important it is that we keep staying at home, keep slowing the spread.

vtdigger.org/2020/04/02/state-models-shows-covid-19-caseload-peaking-in-mid-april-under-likely-sc... ... See MoreSee Less

State model shows COVID-19 caseload peaking in mid-April under ‘likely scenario’

vtdigger.org

The Scott administration released models of Vermont’s coronavirus crisis on Thursday afternoon. It appears early social-distancing measures will help avoid worst-case scenarios.

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Rochester Community Bulletin Board

20 hours ago

Here is a very nice thanks for the grocery delivery with pictures from Coren Apicella. Thanks to Sue and her entire team.

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We just had groceries delivered to us and everything worked out so smoothly. We are filled with so much gratitude to Susan who shopped for us and to all the locals who have reached out to us with information and kindness (thank you Colleen for the wine and cookies!). We will continue to support the Rebuild Rochester Community Fund and this beautiful town in any way we can. Rochester will forever be in our hearts

Just finished washing all the lovely produce delivered from Mac’s Market. I was told that new produce shipments arrive on Thursdays. ❤ ❤️

Coren Apicella And one last one! Can you tell how grateful we are? 🙂

... See MoreSee Less

Photo

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Rochester Community Bulletin Board

22 hours ago

Very long and thorough story in the Herald today, by Martha Slater, about all the businesses in the Valley, how they are doing, and what their hours are, much longer than I could post here. You should take it out of the paper and keep it somewhere you can refer to it when you need it. Thanks Martha and thank you White River Valley Herald. ... See MoreSee Less

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Rochester Community Bulletin Board

23 hours ago

You know, after the high school closed, Dorothy Robson asked me to make a little video about the history of the school, and Nancy Wooley and Kelly Kelly and others pulled together photographs from the past and we made quite a moving little piece about Rochester’s high school and the people that had gone there over the years.

But the reason I bring it up now, is that those pictures, many from the Rochester Historical Society, were also about the history of the town itself. And any kind of review of Rochester’s past shows that it has passed through many challenges, many changes. You could say it was once a mining town, with talc mines and quarries, and a factory town, with the big floor factory where the schools are now, or a railroad town, when the Peavine railroad made its way up the valley to the little roundhouse building (still there) and the freight shed (still there) over stone trestle supports in the river, that are also still there.

The railroad was destroyed in the flood of 1927, rebuilt and destroyed again by the stock market crash of 1929. Rochester was a wool town, a dairy town, a lumber town. You can still find the ruins of a logger’s splash dam up on the Bingo, with huge old timbers and hand wrought iron spikes still holding them together under the fast running water, colder than a bankers heart.

Nancy Wooley found me a hundred year old post card, which shows a frame house, newly built and coming up the dirt road which is now route 100, is a heavily loaded hay wagon, drawn by a team of horses. I am living in that house today.

So I guess the lesson of Rochester Vermont is that It endures. The people hang together, the community continues, the seasons continue to change. And here we are now, facing something difficult, something that demands sacrifice, and the pain of isolation and fear. Let’s take a little heart from what the town has gone through before, from the strength of those old Vermonters who built Rochester and kept it going. So stay safe in your houses, don’t go to the store unless you really have to, call for us to deliver groceries if you need them, and don’t get casual about it as time drags on.

After all, this too will pass.

Rob Gardner ... See MoreSee Less

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Rochester Community Bulletin Board

1 day ago

Vic Ribaudo, the Director of our Emergency Management Team, receives reports and updates from the VT State Emergency Operations Center daily. Here are some highlights from the April 1 edition and other updated guidance shared:

Key Updates:
-- The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States exceeds 200,000.
-- The CDC warns that as many as 25% of people infected with the new coronavirus may not show symptoms.
-- There is a new website for Vermonters looking to volunteer: www.vermont.gov/volunteer
-- A new website has also been launched to solicit donations of medical equipment: www.vermont.gov/donate

For guidance to how small business owners can seek support available through the CARE Act, see: accd.vermont.gov/sites/accdnew/files/documents/Small-Business-Owners-Guide-CARES-Act.pdf

The VT Agency of Commerce and Community Development has issued new restrictions on "big box" stores:
-- Stores must restrict access to non-essential goods by closing those aisles or portions of the store.
-- Stores can only offer non-essential items through online portals, telephone delivery, or curbside pickup.
-- Except in the event of emergencies, showrooms and garden sections of large home improvement centers should be closed.
-- Additional guidance here: accd.vermont.gov/press-releases/agency-commerce-and-community-development-directs-%E2%80%9Cbig-bo...

National Updates:
-- Major Disaster Declarations have been awarded in 27 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam.283 million people in at least 36 states, 79 counties, 28 cities, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are being urged to stay home.
-- President Trump extended Federal social distancing guidelines to 4/30/20, and the CDC issued a domestic traveladvisory that urges New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut residents to refrain from non-essential travel for 14 days.

Vermont numbers (as of April 1; numbers change daily):
-- Total positive test results for COVID-19: 321
-- Total tests for COVID-19: 4,495
-- Deaths: 16 -- People being monitored: 153
-- People who have completed monitoring: 645
-- Hospitalized patients with COVID-19: 30
-- Hospitalized patients under investigation for COVID-19: 45 ... See MoreSee Less

Volunteer - COVID-19 | Vermont.gov

www.vermont.gov

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Rochester Community Bulletin Board

1 day ago

Wear a mask or don't wear a mask? It's a heated question these days, even here in our community. While the CDC guidance has thus far been that only those who are sick or caring for someone who is sick should be wearing a mask, that guidance is now under review, and the CDC is considering encouraging broader use.

Why the discouragement of widespread mask wearing in the first place? Simply put, the country had a shortage, and it's far more important for healthcare workers and those who are sick to have masks than others. But there are some basic benefits to wearing a mask, even if you are not sick, when you go to the grocery store or are shopping for other essential items. For example, you might not have symptoms but still carry the virus, and wearing a mask makes it less likely that might pass it on to others in a public place. When you're in Mac's or other grocery stores, it also demonstrates concern about the well-being of store employees who are there for our benefit. For your own protection, if you are wearing a mask, you are also less likely to accidentally pick up the virus by touching your mouth or nose after you've touched a surface where the virus might be.

N95 masks are still in short supply, but you don't need to hunt one down to enhance your protection and the protection of others when you're out of the house. You can cover your face and mouth with a scarf or homemade mask. It won't provide the same filters against risk as the N95, so still be sure to maintain good hygiene, wash your hands often, and practice social distancing.

After wearing a mask, remember to wash your hands thoroughly or use hand sanitizer, then remove mask by the elastic or strings, being careful to not touch the outside. Fold it in on itself (dirty side or outside in). If re-using, store in a plastic bag, and wash your hands after touching it. Don't forget to sanitize your car keys, steering wheel, gear shift, and door latch after driving.

This NPR article provides more background about the ongoing discussion on guidelines for wearing masks.

www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/31/824560471/should-we-all-be-wearing-masks-in-public-h... ... See MoreSee Less

Should We All Be Wearing Masks In Public? Health Experts Revisit The Question

www.npr.org

There are rumblings that U.S. health officials may start encouraging Americans to wear face masks to cut down on asymptomatic spread. But with continued shortages, it's not clear how we'd do that.

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