Apartment Operators & Suppliers ARE Essential Workers!

According to guidance from Mecklenburg County's Stay at Home Order and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), apartment industry employees and industry suppliers are "essential infrastructure workers.

Here is what the County's Stay at Home Order says.

Essential Infrastructure. For purposes of this Proclamation, individuals may leave their residence to provide any services or perform any work necessary to offer, provision, operate, maintain and repair Essential Infrastructure.

Essential Infrastructure includes, but is not limited to: food production, distribution, and sale; construction (including, but not limited to, construction required in response to this public health emergency, hospital construction, construction oflong-term care facilities, public works construction, and housing construction); building management and maintenance; airport operations; operation and maintenance of utilities, including water, sewer, and gas; electrical (including power generation, distribution, and production of raw materials); distribution centers; security system operation and maintenance; oil and biofuel refining; roads, highways, railroads, and public transportation; ports; cybersecurity operations; flood control; solid waste and recycling collection and removal; and internet, video, and telecommunications systems (including the provision of essential global, national, and local infrastructure for computing services, business infrastructure, communications, and web-based services).

Essential Infrastructure shall be construed broadly to avoid any impacts to essential infrastructure, broadly defined.

• Hardware and supply stores. Hardware stores and businesses that sell electrical, plumbing, and heating material;
• Critical trades. Building and Construction Tradesmen and Tradeswomen, and other trades including but not limited to plumbers, electricians, exterminators, cleaning and janitorial staff for commercial and governmental properties, security staff, operating engineers, HVAC, painting, moving and relocation services, and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences, Essential Activities, and Essential Businesses and Operations;
• Manufacture, distribution, and supply chain for critical products and industries. Manufacturing companies, distributors, and supply chain companies producing and supplying essential products and services in and for industries such as pharmaceutical, technology, biotechnology, healthcare, chemicals and sanitization, waste pickup and disposal, agriculture, food and beverage, transportation, energy, steel and steel products, petroleum and fuel, mining, construction, national defense, communications, as well as products used by other Essential Businesses and Operations.

Minimum Basic Operations. For purposes of this Proclamation, Minimum Basic Operations include the following, provided that employees comply with Social Distancing Requirements, to the extent possible, while carrying out such operations:

1. The minimum necessary activities to maintain the value of the business's inventory, preserve the condition of the business's physical plant and equipment, ensure security, process payroll and employee benefits, or for related functions.

Essential Personnel Travel Authorization Letter Template 

Here is what the CISA says about the apartment industry and its workers.

There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof. Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21): Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience advances a national policy to strengthen and maintain secure, functioning, and resilient critical infrastructure. 

The Commercial Facilities Sector consists of eight subsectors:

• Entertainment and Media (e.g., motion picture studios, broadcast media).
• Gaming (e.g., casinos).
• Lodging (e.g., hotels, motels, conference centers).
• Outdoor Events (e.g., theme and amusement parks, fairs, campgrounds, parades).
• Public Assembly (e.g., arenas, stadiums, aquariums, zoos, museums, convention centers).
• Real Estate (e.g., office and apartment buildings, condominiums, mixed use facilities, self-storage).
• Retail (e.g., retail centers and districts, shopping malls).
• Sports Leagues (e.g., professional sports leagues and federations).