• OPWDD has updated some of their guidance documents today, copies of which are linked below:
• Return to work – Clinical and direct care: Guidance for Clinical & Direct Care Personnel Returning to Work Following COVID-19 Exposure or Infection
• Return to work – Essential personnel: Protocols for Essential Personnel to Return to Work Following COVID-19 Exposure or Infection (DOH Update)
• Release from home isolation: Release from Home Isolation
• Modified training and recertification: Interim Guidance Regarding Modified Training and Recertifications to Address COVID-19

• It appears that a 3 way agreement has been reached and Budget Bills continue to be introduced and voted on. As soon as the budget is finalized and approved we will be providing a comprehensive update with the relevant information to our members.  

• The Social Security Administration issued a press release last night reassuring people that Social Security and Supplemental Social Security payments will be made on time. They also reminded "everyone to be aware of scammers who try to take advantage of the pandemic to trick people into providing personal information or payment via retail gift cards, wire transfers, internet currency, or by mailing cash, to maintain Social Security benefit payments or receive economic impact payments from the Department of the Treasury." The press release is available here.

• ACCES has issued the following guidance for processing the VR-370 reports. Electronic processing directions are described in the bullet below as well as a password and attestation text that must be used. All questions should be sent to CRS2@nysed.gov. 
• To ease the burden on vendors that will not be available to receive the reports as they arrive at their office, we will be issuing the report in Adobe PDF and, possibly also, in .txt formats. The reports can then be printed and completed as usual. Because ACCES-VR staff are also working remotely, we are requesting that vendors scan the completed, signed, reports as separate documents for each office. The reports contain participant information, and must be password protected prior to sending to ACCES-VR.  
• Password: $ACCES#VR370
• Attestation: “I hereby certify that the data submitted on the attached document is true and correct and supported by the service provider’s internal records.”

• Open Future Learning has shared a video with the New York Alliance about talking to individuals with intellectual disabilities about the Covid-19 virus. That video can be found here.