Vaccination Clinic opens in Harvard tonight!

Written on April 27, 2021.

Resume McHenry County Update!

Through our collaboration with McHenry County, we will continue to share important information on stimulus programs, PPP loans, COVID-19 updates and more through its Resume McHenry County Updates.

Please take a moment to scroll down to see new advancements this week as we move to open McHenry County. If MCEDC can be of any help, please call. Forward this email to your friends and family to help get the word out!

Vaccination clinic in Harvard on tonight!

Registration is open right now for a free vaccination opportunity being held on Tuesday evening, April 27 from 4 to 7 p.m at the Harvard Moose Family Center, 22500 Route 173, Harvard.

To register, visit the state COVID vaccine registration page at https://covidvaccination.dph.illinois.gov. Once you fill out the brief screening questionnaire confirming you’re at least 16 years old, type “Harvard” into the search engine under “all events” to find it. Once the clinic has filled up, it will no longer appear.

Recipients who are 16 or 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who will be required to sign the consent form at the appointment. Proof of age (a photo ID or birth certificate) will be required and verified at the appointment.

If you can’t make this one, keep reading to find out how you can make a vaccination appointment and do your part to help us fully reopen our schools and businesses!

Shuttered Venue Grant open following delays

The US Small Business Administration’s portal for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant went live today (Monday, April 26), ending a string of delays.

After a months-long wait following its creation in December, the application portal went live on April 8, only to be taken down hours later because of technical issues.

You can reach the application portal by clicking here. A checklist of the documentation needed to apply for the grant can be found here.

The grant is targeted to help the live entertainment industry, which has been hit hard by COVID-19 closures and capacity limitations. Eligible businesses open to music venues, live theater venues, museums, small movie theaters, zoos, aquariums, and other attractions. A total of $16.25 billion has been set aside, at least $2 billion of which is set aside for venues with no more than 50 employees.

Applicants can qualify for grants equal to 45 percent of their gross earned revenue. Entities that suffered the greatest economic loss will have top priority, starting with those that suffered a 90 percent or greater revenue loss between April and December 2020. Entities that suffered 70 percent or greater loss will have second-tier priority, and those that suffered 25 percent or greater loss will have third-tier priority.

Grant funds can be used to cover payroll, rent, utilities, scheduled mortgage payments, worker-protection expenditures, and other expenses. Any venue or promoter that received a Paycheck Protection Program loan on or after Dec. 27, 2020, will have their grant reduced by the PPP loan amount. Click here for a list of frequently asked questions regarding the grant.

As a reminder, the grant is but one of several financial lifelines available to businesses struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Visit our website at www.resumemchenrycounty.com for a list of links to help you navigate available federal and state assistance.

Thank you to our vaccine volunteers!

In honor of National Volunteer Week, we at Resume McHenry County would like to thank the small army of volunteers who are helping the McHenry County Department of Health at its mass vaccination sites in McHenry and Crystal Lake.

And a very big thank you goes to the men and women of the Illinois Army National Guard, which has not only been augmenting our mass vaccination sites but also has been traveling McHenry County to help ensure that people in critical industries get inoculated against COVID-19.

These citizen-soldiers have been away from their families and their civilian jobs to help, and we couldn’t be more grateful. They’re doing their part to help, so let’s do ours and register to get vaccinated! How can you register if you haven’t already done so? We’re glad you asked – keep reading!

Help us encourage people to get vaccinated!

If you’ve already gotten vaccinated against COVID-19, thank you! If you’ve made your appointment for your first or second dose, you can help us out with a little shameless self-promotion.

The customizable animated Facebook and Instagram template we told you about in last week’s edition is here! All you need to do is take a photo of yourself getting vaccinated, and then click here to personalize our nifty Canva template with your name, who you are, and why you’re getting inoculated.

When you’re done, post your finished artistic creation along with the hashtag #covid19endswithme, and help us spread the word! Even if you don’t want to use the template, your picture by itself (with the hashtag) will do to encourage people to sign up, and to help people who are hesitant about receiving the vaccine to overcome their fears.

As a friendly reminder, if you’re going with a solo picture, remember to avoid showing your vaccination card.

How to receive the COVID-19 vaccine

Residents age 16 and older are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Illinois. There are multiple paths by which you can register.

The McHenry County Department of Health and other governmental entities use the state’s COVID-19 vaccine registration page at https://covidvaccination.dph.illinois.gov.

You also can receive the vaccine through retail pharmacies – a list of participants, and their locations, is available by visiting http://coronavirus.illinois.gov, or the MCDH vaccine locator page at http://bit.ly/MCDHFindVaccine.

Visit these sites frequently, as new appointment options are posted regularly, but fill up quickly.

People without Internet or who need translation services can schedule an appointment through the MCDH Call Center at 815-334-4045, or by calling the Illinois Department of Public Health hotline at 833-621-1284. If you have a neighbor or relative who needs assistance, please help them make an appointment or help them contact the Call Center.

As we wrote earlier, recipients who are 16 or 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who will be required to sign the consent form at the appointment. Proof of age (a photo ID or birth certificate) will be required and verified at the appointment.

Please forward this email to anyone you know who is looking for information regarding how to get vaccinated.

Richardson Farm’s inaugural Tulip Festival in full bloom

We’ve been trumpeting the return of McHenry County’s iconic attractions with the return of warm weather and the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions.

But some places, like Richardson Adventure Farm in Spring Grove, aren’t solely content with bringing back beloved institutions – they’re also starting new ones to enjoy!

Richardson Farm, of course, is known for boasting the world’s largest and most intricate corn maze, on top of its 700-foot zip line and other family-friendly entertainment. Last weekend, they added a new and very colorful attraction with its first-ever Tulip Festival – they planted 300,000 tulips (10,000 each of 30 different varieties) for people to enjoy. That’s five acres of color!

The festival is open from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. seven days a week through May. Click here to learn more.

We hope we got your attention. We need your help reaching more McHenry County residents and businesses to share this important information about the COVID-19 response and connect them with vital resources.

Please take these four steps:

1. Share/forward to your email/newsletter contacts.

2. Post information to your website.

3. Follow us on social media (see below); share our posts with your followers.

4. If you are not on the McHenry County Constant Contact list, please subscribe here

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Staying connected and informed is more important now than ever! Follow McHenry County on social media for regular updates on COVID-19 in our region, resources to help you navigate the pandemic, safety tips and more!

What is Resume McHenry County?

Resume McHenry County is a collaborative initiative being implemented by McHenry County and the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) in partnership with the McHenry County community, including cities and villages, businesses and residents. The goal is to ensure a successful reopening of our economy so that we can return to our lifestyles safely and responsibly.