March 23, 2020—The Federal government has issued guidance to state and local governments to include the vehicle service and repair industry in the definition of essential services for the purposes of emergency orders that require non-essential businesses to close, according to a press release.
Released on March 19, The Department of Homeland Security memorandum entitled “Memorandum on Identification of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During COVID-19 Response” includes a list of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers “to help State and local officials as they work to protect their communities, while ensuring continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security.”
This comes after associations like the ASA and AOCA have called for these facilities to be considered essential, and be able to remain open during the pandemic.
Of major importance to the auto care industry, the document includes the list of workers that are considered “essential”: “Automotive repair and maintenance facilities” and “Employees who repair and maintain vehicles, aircraft, rail equipment, marine vessels, and the equipment and infrastructure that enables operations that encompass movement of cargo and passengers”.
Additionally, the Auto Case Association, has been working with retail and industry associations to document State responses to the COVID-19 virus. The following link, courtesy of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) documents each state’s publicly available information concerning emergency status, executive’s orders and other useful information. The Auto Care Association advises the public to to check this document on a frequent basis for new developments. The link can also be found on the Association’s Coronavirus industry resource page located at autocare.org/coronavirus.
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