Health Care

New hires and promotions at companies like AAFCPAs in Westborough, Bryley Sytems in Clinton, Concierge Physical Therapy in Sutton, Reliant Medical Group and Framingham State University.

CEO Eric Dickson said while UMass is grateful for the few million dollars in donations it garners each year, they don’t even compare to hospitals in Boston, who tend to generate tens of millions of dollars in philanthropy every year.

It isn’t heavily dependent on tourism or conventions, and it has relatively few hotel rooms. It isn’t home to any casinos and doesn’t host headquarters for any major airlines, energy companies, automakers or cruise lines, among others who have been hardest hit.

Central Massachusetts is projected to have among the biggest shortfalls in the number of available beds in the country, virtually no matter how hard the coronavirus pandemic hits.

As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on and Central Massachusetts business owners adjust to a shifting economic and regulatory environment, area experts are cautioning company heads to stay abreast of ever-changing tides – and to make sure emergency plans are in place to protect work and cash flow.

Among the CARES Act provisions of direct payments to U.S. residents, expanding unemployment benefits and a bailout to airlines is a $367-billion small business relief effort designed to encourage companies with 500 or fewer employees to maintain their payrolls and avoid layoffs.

Another 46 coronavirus cases were reported Sunday for Worcester County, hitting 337, with Massachusetts cases totaling 4,955.

Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center in Worcester is being converted to caring strictly for coronavirus patients, the first of what is planned to be several such sites set up at the direction of the state.

Massachusetts coronavirus cases hit 4,257 on Saturday, jumping another 32% in one day, with a 33% rise in Worcester County to 291. Worcester County also had an additional two reported deaths.

Last August, UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester sold a pharmacy management joint venture to free up money for equipment and facility upgrades. In the meantime, it planned to invest some of the $208 million it took home from the deal. Fortuitously, though, the hospital network's investment committee hadn't met in between that time and the coronavirus pandemic.