We need you to raise your voice in support of the restaurants, hotels, shops, and entertainment that you love by helping us to advocate for Retail Relief 2020. Right now, to make our community safer, these retailers have agreed to close their businesses. We need to all work together to make sure they can reopen them when this crisis is over.
VRF proactively represents and supports the legislative interests of Virginia retailers on the local, state, and federal levels.
PHASE THREE: BUSINESS GUIDELINES
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Virginia Launches COVIDWISE Exposure Notification App to Help Contain COVID-19
August 7, 2020
Governor Ralph Northam announced this week the launch of COVIDWISE, an innovative exposure notification app that will alert users if they have been in close contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Virginia is the first state in the country to design a COVID-19 app using Bluetooth Low Energy technology developed by Apple and Google, which does not rely on personal information or location data. Users opt-in to download and utilize the free app.
COVIDWISE works by using random Bluetooth keys that change every 10 to 20 minutes. iOS and Android devices that have the app installed will anonymously share these random keys if they are within close proximity for at least 15 minutes.
Each day, the device downloads a list of all random keys associated with positive COVID-19 results submitted by other app users and checks them against the list of random keys it has encountered in the last 14 days. If there is a match, COVIDWISE may notify the individual, taking into account the date and duration of exposure, and the Bluetooth signal strength which is used to estimate proximity.
- To learn more about COVIDWISE and the download the app, click HERE.
- To watch an informational briefing with the app developers click HERE.
- Read a one-page information sheet on COVIDWISE HERE.
Recent News
- Virginia Launches COVIDWISE Exposure Notification App to Help Contain COVID-19
- Virginia Sales Tax Holiday
- ON-DEMAND WEBINAR: Virginia’s COVID-19 Emergency Regulations
- NOW IN EFFECT: Virginia's Emergency Temporary OSHA Standards
- The Rebuild VA Grant Fund
- WEBINAR: Prepare for Virginia’s COVID-19 Emergency Regulations
- Virginia Issues Emergency Temporary OSHA Standards for COVID-19
- Virginia Passes First-In-Nation OSHA Standard for COVID-19
- Virginia Phase Three
- July 1: Virginia to Enter Phase Three of Reopening
Virginia Retail by the Numbers
| 1,057,777 Jobs Supported by Retail | 87,997 Retail Establishments | $63.5 (b) Total GDP Impact |
767,243 Direct Retail Employment | $20,545 (m) Direct Labor Income | $30,927 (m) Direct Impact on GDP |
source: National Retail Federation
ACTION CENTER
Take Action and Make an Impact
CONTACT VIRGINIA GOVERNOR
Contact the Governor immediately and demand that action is taken NOW to help save Retail in Virginia.
We need relief from state tax payments for a minimum of 6 months, expand the VEC to align with the Federal Stimulus program relating to a new Employment Compensation stimulus, unemployment rates for business remain at the level they were prior to COVID-19, a delay in remitting sales tax payments to the limit of the law, pause on all the burdensome legislation that was passed in the 2020 Session.
CONTACT SENATORS
We need everyone to contact their senators now! Tell them to put aside their differences and pass a bill that defends the economic health of the retail workforce and provides the maximum amount of liquidity for retailers to remain viable until the end of the crisis.
