03/25/2020
The spread of COVID-19 has prompted public officials in several states and cites to order residents to shelter-in-place, except for "essential" businesses.
Shelter in place orders generally close all nonessential businesses and prohibit their employees from leaving their homes to work. However, the definition of "essential" businesses can vary depending on the specifics of the order.
How does "Shelter-In-Place" affect the Security Industry?
Recently, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security provided guidance on what is considered an "Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce."
The list of "Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers" identified by CISA and important to our industry includes:
Workers supporting communications systems and information technology used by law enforcement, public safety, medical, energy and other critical industries
Maintenance of communications infrastructure, including privately owned and maintained communication systems supported by technicians, operators, call centers, wireline and wireless providers, cable service providers, satellite operations, undersea cable landing stations, internet exchange points and manufacturers and distributors of communications equipment
Installation, maintenance and repair technicians that establish, support or repair service as needed
Workers who support command centers, including but not limited to network operations command centers, broadcast operations control centers, and security operations command centers
Datacenter operators, including system administrators, HVAC and electrical engineers, security personnel, IT managers, data transfer solutions engineers, software and hardware engineers, and database administrators
Dispatchers involved with service repair and restoration
We are here for you:
As an industry, we must continue to support the safety and security needs of our clients. Pioneer Communications will continue to operate under the designation of "essential business" to meet those needs.
We remain committed to providing exceptional service and support to our customers during this challenging time.
We appreciate your business, patience, and trust during this time.
Stay safe!
Harold Sowell