Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | March 16, 2020 | wbjournal.com C E N T R A L M AS S I N B R I E F Coronavirus and its impact hit Worcester County V E R BAT I M SBA honoree "I'm very humbled to receive the honor. I told my team here we won the Massachusetts small business person of the year award, and someone said, 'You won.' I said, 'Yeah, but it's about us as a business.' So I'm excited for them." Brian Geisel, CEO of Geisel Software in Worcester, who was named the Massachusetts Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration Women in brewing "Don't let the bro-topia stigma turn you away. For the most part, I have not encountered men in this industry who aren't accepting of women joining in." Meredith McNamara from Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co., the only woman brewer in Worcester, in encouraging women to join the beer industry Marijuana education "The most important thing this graduate degree taught me was the importance of relying on science and data to inform your ideas and opinions." Jennifer Roy, founder of Jen Roy PR in Worcester, who was in the first class for Clark University's graduate certificate program for cannabis regulatory affairs W orcester County had its first patient test positive for the coro- navirus, the Massa- chusetts Department of Health said on March 9, as businesses in Greater Worcester began to fill the impact from the global reaction to the disease. e Worcester County patient, a woman, was brought to UMass Memori- al Medical Center in Worcester, showing symptoms in the emergency depart- ment, according to the Department of Public Health. at patient is now at home resting under quarantine. Meanwhile, the coronavirus outbreak is forcing more companies to re-exam- ine their operations. e Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress has canceled its annual con- ference to be held March 28 at the DCU Center in Worcester. e group said the decision was made aer closely moni- toring updates and recommendations from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and aer conferring with its leadership. Mirick O'Connell, a Worcester law firm, has postponed its annual law con- ference to be held at the DCU Center on April 16. It will instead be held this fall. Other DCU Center events are still going on as scheduled, including a Worcester Railers hockey game set to take place at the arena Friday night and regional games for the collegiate men's hockey tournament March 27 and 28. As part of a UMass-wide decision, UMass Medical School in Worcester was the first Central Massachusetts college to suspend in-person classes in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. UMass President Marty Meehan announced the decision March 11 in a move impacting UMass campuses in Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth and Low- ell. Courses will be online only through April 3. "Our highest priority is the health and safety of students, faculty, staff and communities," Meehan said in the announcement. "e complex and fast-evolving challenges posed by this virus require decisive, proactive mea- sures, and we have an obligation to do our part in mitigating the spread of the virus here in Massachusetts. Aer con- sidering the guidance we have received from state and federal health officials as well as our own infectious disease experts, it is now clear that moving our students from face-to-face learning to a remote model must be part of our con- tribution to the mitigation effort." UMass Medical School includes near- ly 1,200 students. UMass' Dartmouth and Lowell cam- puses will begin online courses when they return from break on March 16. e Amherst and Boston campuses will go online starting March 23 when their breaks end. e decision from UMass adds to a growing list of colleges in Massachusetts and nationwide to shi courses online. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, College of the Holy Cross and Fitchburg State University all cancelled in-person classes as well, closing residence halls and shiing courses online. WPI and UMass Medical School have suspended school-related international travel. Assumption College in Worcester sent students home from its Rome campus. BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor W A woman brought to the UMass Memorial Medical Center emergency room was the first patient in Worcester County to test positive for the coronavirus.

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