IMPORTANT UPDATES
The Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce is partnering with the Georgetown and Round Rock Chambers of Commerce for a virtual
Williamson County Conversation with Senator John Cornyn
on Thursday, April 30
th
at 2:00pm. Senator Cornyn will provide an update from the federal level regarding the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis followed by the opportunity to ask the Senator questions.
REGISTER HERE!
FEDERAL & STATE UPDATES FOR BUSINESS
The
second round of funding
for the Paycheck Protection Program
opens up at 10:00am today! If you applied and were accepted, but not awarded any of the funding, just verify that you do not need to do anything else with your banker. If you have not been accepted, but turned in your information to your local bank, verify that they are re-applying for you. This second round is expected to go faster than the first round. Do what you can to get this funding for your small business.
Retail-to-Go is Open!
Be sure to help your local business community if you can. Governor Abbott opened up “Retail-to-Go” last Friday and that has helped put many people back to work. As the need for more employees grow, so will the need to hire and the economy will start looking more normal. Do not forget we have updates online and with our twice-weekly emails updating you on any “COVID-19 Deals” that are out there from our members.
WILLIAMSON COUNTY UPDATE
Williamson County and Cities Health District (WCCHD) had its
first confirmed cluster of COVID-19 in a nursing facility.
According to a WILCO New Release, control orders were sent to 43 facilities on March 16
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by WCCHD. Updated control orders were delivered on April 23 to 65 facilities, including assisted living, nursing homes, skilled nursing and long-term care facilities. The updated orders stipulate that if there is a confirmed case, all patients, staff and next of kin must be notified. There were additional stipulations with this order. For more information
CLICK HERE
.
Williamson County residents now have a
new way to be able to be tested for COVID-19
(Coronavirus). WILCO and WCCHD are offering a public testing site to increase the ability of county residents to get a COVID-19 test. The site is for people who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. For more information on what is involved to get tested
CLICK HERE
.
LEANDER ISD
Leander ISD is asking students, parents and teachers if they are meeting expectations
during these challenging times. According to UPDATE #23: “As we continue to plan based on the Governor’s Executive Order that school buildings will remain closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.” They would like to gather feedback from teachers, parents and students about how things are going with the district’s emergency distance learning. Each group will receive a link to a short survey, but if you missed it – the links are below! The district is asking for the survey to be completed by May 1
st
.
IN CLOSING TODAY
Hopefully your business is starting to find a “new norm” during these trying times. While it gets easier in some ways because we know what to expect from day-to-day, in many ways it gets harder. We know what to expect often, but since many of us do not personally know anybody who has COVID-19 it is easy to think that we are good, and we can be around more people.
However, I will remind you that the orders have not changed. We are still under a Stay Home Stay Safe Order until Friday at the earliest.
Williamson County just had its first confirmed cluster of COVID-19 cases at a nursing facility in Williamson County. This added dozens of confirmed cases to our count in Williamson County. Please be sure to stay safe. Please continue to practice social distancing as much as you can. The best way to open up our economy is to adhere to these guidelines while they are in place. Governor Abbott was quoted as saying that the only thing worse than being tardy to opening our economy, is to open it only to have to close it back down.
TAKE THE WILLIAMSON COUNTY BUSINESS SURVEY TODAY
Please do not forget to take the
Williamson County Business Survey
. As I mentioned yesterday, this is an extremely important survey that is being used county-wide. It was
a topic of discussion at Commissioner’s Court and is being used by other municipalities
as a tool to understand what is happening in real time with the businesses in the middle of this pandemic.
The partners in this program include the Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce, City of Cedar Park, City of Round Rock, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, Hutto Chamber of Commerce, Leander Economic Development, Round Rock Chamber, Williamson County and Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area.
As always, you can forward this email to anybody you think would find value in it. They can sign up whether they are a member of the Cedar Park Chamber or not. We want everybody to be informed and continue to get updates on what is happening. Be sure to check in on your business neighbor. Stay Safe and Be Kind!
Tony Moline, IOM, PCED
President & CEO
Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce
