Call Vermont's resource line by dialing 2-1-1 with any questions about COVID-19 or general questions about help and services in Vermont.

Health:

• Vermont Health Department
• UVM Health Network organizes its updates by each hospital in the network
• Number of Cases in Vermont courtesy of VT Digger
• Translated COVID-19 information and community resources in more than a dozen languages. Includes videos, links, information for children and more. Created and maintained by volunteers in hopes of making it a sustainable resource post-pandemic.

Meals and Prescriptions:

• Hunger Free VT has a list of sites for meals for children 0-18
• Meal Programs for Older Vermonters: People age 60 and older are especially encouraged to stay at home but staying well nourished is also critical for your health. To help, you may be able to pick up meals to go or have meals delivered to your home. For more info, call the Helpline at 800-642-5119
• FREE Prescription Delivery: Walgreens and Kinney Drugs are offering FREE prescription delivery. Visit their websites or call for more information.

Labor and Tax Assistance:

• Department of Labor for questions for both employers and employees. To learn more about how to file your claim based on your last name, please refer to this page.
• Department of Taxes for questions about how this is impacting tax returns/refunds

Faith in Action, the national network to which VIA belongs, has written an extensive and thorough letter to communicate to Congress what our families across the country need in the second CARES legislation, and especially what we need to achieve racial equity in the country's response.

The letter begins:

Dear Members of Congress:

As grassroots, faith-based organizations representing 500,000 families, we are hearing more and more stories of pain and grief, as people lose loved ones to COVID-19. The pandemic is reaching every corner of the country, while falling most heavily on Black people who are dying at extraordinarily high rates. People of color, immigrants, health care workers, and those who live in marginalized urban, rural and tribal communities are disproportionately struggling to survive and stay safe without jobs, income, and reliable access to health care. The virus is worsening already enormous problems of mass incarceration and deportation, and racial and class disparities in access to health and economic security. And we are seeing a vicious rise in racism and xenophobia against Asian Americans.

This public health and humanitarian crisis calls for bold and moral leadership from Congress to remedy the deep and systemic racial inequities in our country. To save lives and limit the damage to our society and economy, our response to this crisis must be both universal, providing protection, care and support to everyone, and targeted, focusing resources on people and communities most at-risk. To date, the federal response has exacerbated rather than alleviated racial inequality, putting all of our health and wellbeing at-risk. As Congress works on another large stimulus bill it must put racial equity front and center, target resources to those communities that are hardest hit, and embrace policies that provide health care, living wages, and a strong safety net to everyone. These specific and detailed recommendations for inclusion in CARES2 are starting place.    (Read more)