Good Afternoon,
I hope you had a restful weekend. As expected, Governor Whitmer has extended the Stay Home, Stay Safe, Save Lives Executive Order until May 15, 2020. While much of this new order is the same as the previous one, this extension does allow some business sectors to reopen with safety measures in place, including landscaping and home gardening centers.
According to this updated order, face coverings are now required to be worn in “enclosed public spaces” like grocery stores and gas stations. Since the lobby is closed to the public, WCRC does not currently have any “enclosed public spaces”, so masks are encouraged but not required if you must go into a WCRC building. Please remember, our mask/face coverings protocol does require the use of face coverings in all situations when the 6-foot social distancing cannot be maintained.
The order also requires essential workplaces, like WCRC, to issue non-medical grade face coverings to all employees reporting in-person. As of this morning, we have distributed some form of face covering (combination of bandanas and KN-95 masks) to every employee reporting to work in-person. If you have not received a face covering, please contact your supervisor immediately. We previously placed orders for 300 cloth face masks and are expecting shipments early this week. Our goal is to distribute 2 cloth face masks to every employee, no matter where they are reporting. It will then be each employee’s responsibility to store and launder their issued cloth coverings. Click here for the updated mask/face coverings protocol.
The governor’s extension is just the next step in a long transition process to Michigan’s new “normal”. At WCRC, we are continuing to think creatively about the ways that we conduct our essential business. We plan to slowly incorporate more work activities that can be done safely as we receive guidance from health officials and peer road commissions. We have already learned a lot about how to successfully work differently during this difficult situation and I’m very proud of what we have accomplished so far.
Please stay tuned for more information in the coming days and weeks.
Take care and stay safe,
Sheryl
