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Component Manufacturing dverti$er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$er
April 2020 #12249 Page #106
AWC Operations Continue Despite COVID-19 Robert Glowinski is the President & CEO of the American Wood Council (AWC).
P
erhaps like many of you, I am writing this message from my home. In light of safety precautions recommended because of the spread of COVID-19, or the Coronavirus, the American Wood Council (AWC) has closed our multi-person offices in Leesburg, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. until such time as the threat to everyone passes. While all our operations continue, including our field offices, staff travel has also been suspended, but we plan to keep providing normal services to our members, information users, and key audiences. Some of our recent activities include:
Essential Workforce In anticipation of the federal government developing a national “shelter-in-place” order that would identify which industries would be required to close, AWC requested through the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) that wood products manufacturing be exempted. The CISA list that was ultimately released included the wood products industry as an “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce.” That list was subsequently amended to include supply chains of Essential Industries. While the federal list was only released as “guidance,” since its issuance many states have referenced it as mandatory within their jurisdictions. It appears getting on the early federal list was very fortuitous. We have been working with a number of our companies to monitor the proliferation of state orders and providing factual information about the CISA list and its integration of exemptions for supply chains. In fact, if you’re in a state still considering such orders, we would encourage you to share the CISA list with your state’s Governor, local officials, and emergency planners. It would appear that reference to the federal guidance may provide you with support to justify keeping your facilities operating, hopefully in a COVID-19-safe manner.
Federal Activity The President has declared a national emergency that opens the availability of more federal aid to states and municipalities facing economic threats from the virus. The declaration also allows for use of more resources in directly combatting COVID-19.
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