SIX-POINT COVID-19 PLAN 

Yesterday, President Biden announced a six-point plan to combat COVID-19. While there is still much to be determined regarding implementation, timeline, and legal challenges, many of the details affect nonprofits: 

1) Vaccinating the Unvaccinated; 
2) Furthering Protection for the Vaccinated; 
3) Keeping Schools Safely Open; 
4) Increasing Testing and Requiring Masking;
5) Protecting Our Economic Recovery; and 
6) Improving Care for Those with COVID-19.

Here are details most relevant to nonprofits in two of these components:
 
1) Vaccinating the Unvaccinated

• Requiring All Employers with 100+ Employees to Ensure their Workers are Vaccinated or Tested Weekly (OSHA developing an Emergency Temporary Standard).
• Requiring Vaccinations for all Federal Workers and for Millions of Contractors that Do Business with the Federal Government (implemented via Executive Order).
• Requiring COVID-19 Vaccinations for Over 17 Million Health Care Workers at Medicare and Medicaid Participating Hospitals and Other Health Care Settings.
• Requiring Employers to Provide Paid Time Off to Get Vaccinated (OSHA developing an Emergency Temporary Standard).

5) Protecting Our Economic Recovery

• EIDL: Strengthening the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, for which nonprofits are eligible, by increasing the maximum amount of funding a small business can borrow through this program from $500,000 to $2 million, which can be used to hire and retain employees, purchase inventory and equipment, and pay off higher-interest debt.
• PPP: Streamlining Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness by making it easier for more than 3.5 million PPP borrowers with loans of $150,000 or less to get their loans forgiven. Under the new streamlined approach initiated in August, SBA sends a pre-completed application form to the borrower who can review, sign, and send back to SBA, which then works with the lender to complete the forgiveness process. SBA expects more than 2.5 million additional small businesses to take advantage of this streamlined process in the months ahead.