• Ken Riehl, CEO, [email protected]

• Peter Webber, Sr. VP, [email protected]

• Olivia Perez-O’Dess, Member Services Director, [email protected]

• Reopening Massachusetts: State Offers General Business Guidance with information to help businesses meet the self-certification requirement to reopen. All businesses must meet these requirements before reopening. Businesses operating to provide Essential Services may remain open and have until May 25, 2020 to comply with these mandatory safety standards.

• COVID-19 control plan template – Template that satisfies the written control plan requirement for self-certification

• Compliance attestation poster – Poster that customer facing businesses are required to print, sign, and post in an area within the business premises that is visible to workers and visitors

• Employer and Worker posters – Posters that businesses can print and display within the business premises to describe the rules for maintaining social distancing, hygiene protocols, and cleaning and disinfecting

• Hygienic or Protective Supplies for the Workplace – Resources to help inform employers and employees about supplies needed to return to workplaces, and connect businesses with manufacturers and distributors.

• Find all this information and more on the new Reopening Massachusetts website, including detailed sector-specific reopening guidance, timelines and links to additional resources.

• Reopening – Mandatory Workplace Safety Standards. The Department of Public Health (DPH) and the COVID-19 Command Center developed new Mandatory Workplace Safety Standards in consultation with the Reopening Advisory Board. These new standards will apply universally to all workplaces that are open in Phase 1, and are designed to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission to employees and customers during the first phase of reopening, and are applicable to all sectors and industries.

• CARRYOUTMA. We invite our readers to check out this new website created by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. This is a great resource designed to help us support our favorite local eateries offering take-out, curbside pick-up and delivery services.

• State Replaces “Stay-at-Home” Advisory with “Safer-at- Home” Advisory. Read the details of the “Safer-at-Home” advisory issued today by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health here.

• Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Continues. For further information about PPP and EIDL loans and other SBA loan and debt relief programs please click here.

• Daily and cumulative data on Massachusetts COVID-19 cases and testing, and data on confirmed cases by city/town and residents subject to COVID-19 quarantine is available here. Special note: As of May 18, COVID-19 testing numbers reflect the date a test is administered, rather than the date the test result is received. DPH believes this to be a more precise picture of how many people are getting tested each day.

• Congratulations Irish Sweepstakes Winners! Please join us as we congratulate all the winners of the 21^st annual Irish Sweepstakes and our very first virtual drawing. If you missed last evening’s Facebook event with The Bridge Cape Ann, please click here. 

• The Chamber’s special COVID-19 information and resource page - including information and updates about Cape Ann’s businesses and their operations – continues to be updated daily. Please send your business information and updates to Olivia Perez-O’Dess ([email protected]). These lists include take out and delivery options, retailers, banks and grocery store hours.

• Resources for Cape Ann Businesses. The Chamber team is working diligently to assist our members and the community as we navigate these uncertain times together. We encourage you to review the Chamber’s compendium of Business Resources and Recommended Actions here and we invite you to contact us if you have any questions or need assistance.  

• 1623 Studios Memorial Day Virtual Event Since the Memorial Day Observance at Gloucester High is canceled, Cape Ann Veterans Services & 1623 Studios will air a special program on Channel 12 (Comcast) & their Facebook pages on Monday, May 25 at 11am to honor those who have served & continue to serve our country. Watch the video here.

• City of Gloucester Shares Phase 1 Plan for Reopening Public Beaches. Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, Director of Public Works Michael Hale and Public Health Director Karin Carroll recently announced the city’s phase 1 reopening plan for the City’s beaches and Stage Fort Park, beginning today.

• Good Harbor Beach will be open for residents only.

• Wingaersheek Beach will be open for residents and a limited number of non-residents.

• Stage Fort Park will be open to the public. Non-resident parking fees will be on a cash-only, no change basis.

• Niles and Plum Cove Beaches are resident-only.

• For more details about Gloucester’s public beaches plan please click here.

• GMGI News: Gloucester Biotechnology Academy is currently accepting students for the class of 2021. If you're interested in applying - or know someone who is - please visit their website for more information. Informational meetings and interviews are being held virtually to ensure proper social distancing. 

• Rockport Art Association & Museum Offers Online Course. “PAINT: A Fresh New Start”, an online art course with Emily Passman, is scheduled for four consecutive Wednesdays, beginning June 10. For more information and to register, please click here.

• CARRYOUTMA. We invite our readers to check out this new website created by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. This is a great resource designed to help us support our favorite local eateries offering take-out, curbside pick-up and delivery services.

• Cape Ann Tourism Facebook Group. Members of the Chamber’s Tourism Council have formed a Facebook Group to share ideas, enable discussions, and promote information and resources that can enable a strong, safe and viable tourism industry North of Boston in and around Cape Ann.

• Job Postings Welcome. We encourage Chamber members to use us as a resource to post job openings as Aberdeen Home Care has done. Link All CACC members have an online account where they can post a job listing. View current job listings here. For assistance in posting job openings for your business, please contact Olivia Perez-O’Dess at [email protected].

• The Open Door’s #MyBowlAtHome Tribute. The Empty Bowl Dinner has been a long-standing community tradition that brings us together each spring. We won't gather for the annual Empty Bowl Dinner this month as we have for the past 20 years, but The Open Door has created a fun way to still come together—while staying apart. They are inviting us to join them in our #MyBowlAtHome Tribute where we can still #ShowUsYourBowls and be #CommunityStrong. From May 21 through May 31, take a picture with your favorite empty bowl (or bowls!) from years past and share them on social media with your friends and family.

• My Place by the Sea has expanded their hours and their menu. The award-winning restaurant located at the top of Bearskin Neck in Rockport is now open Thursdays through Sundays for take-out and curbside pick-up and will also be open for Memorial Day, Monday, May 25. For details about their hours and for a comprehensive listing and information about Cape Ann’s wide array of eateries, please visit here.

• Lattof’s Farm Stand Reopens. This popular seasonal farm stand located adjacent to Lattof’s Farmhouse Kitchen on Main Street in Rockport reopens today offering fresh fruits and vegetables and baked goods.

• Passports is now offering takeout Tuesday through Sunday 12pm-8pm. Check out their full menu on their new website. Call ahead to order your favorites AND their famous popovers. They are offering masked in-dining room pickup as well as curbside. Please indicate your preference when you call 978-281-3680.

• Misselwood Events at Endicott College is offering a socially distant exchanging of vows ceremony right on the ocean. Couples that are interested in exchanging vows this summer, please email Misselwood Events at [email protected].

• Ryan & Wood Hand Sanitizer is now being bottled at the 1 gallon size and priced at $28/gallon/wholesale. With this pricing and size they plan to focus on the Restaurants, Hospitality, Innkeepers and Venues to assist with re-opening of Cape Ann. They have orders from across eastern Massachusetts but want to care for Cape Ann First. $28 /Gallon, no limit. 10 am – 5 pm, Monday to Saturday, curbside. 80% AVB Ethanol, FDA recommended/WHO compound. Call 978-281-2282 for reservation.

• Say Thank-You or Congratulations the Gift of Cape Ann. Cape Ann Gift Certificates are a great way to say congratulations to graduating high school and college seniors, thank-you to their teachers and all health care workers and first responders, and support over 200 local businesses. To learn more please visit here. To purchase Cape Ann Gift Certificates, please email Karen Carone at [email protected].

• Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM). For AIM’s latest COVID-19 blog please click here.

• COVID-19 Command Center Update: Read MEMA’s May 21 Command Center report here.

• Department of Public Health: Safer-at-Home Advisory

• Commonwealth of Massachusetts. For the latest COVID-19 news and information for Massachusetts, including public health advisories, business resources and government services, please visit here.

• Department of Public Health: Stay at Home Advisory. For details click here.

• Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante: Most recent update

• Centers for Disease Control

• Symptoms and Self-Checker

• What You Need to Know

• Congressman Seth Moulton: Updates and Resources

• OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19

• Essex: www.essexma.org

• Gloucester: www.gloucester-ma.gov

• Manchester-by-the-Sea: www.manchester.ma.us

• Rockport: www.rockportma.gov