Virginia Issues Stay-at-Home Order; Dealerships Remain Open

Dear WANADA Members,

This afternoon, Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia followed Maryland's lead and issued a stay-at-home order, effective at 11:59 p.m. on April 1.  Under the terms of this order, both dealerships and auto repair facilities are allowed to remain open,  provided they can meet the same social distancing guidelines outlined in Executive Order 53, which was published last week.

Those guidelines include limiting showrooms to no more than 10 patrons at any time, and ensuring that both patrons and employees in dealerships and repair facilities are able to keep a 6-foot distance from one another at all times. As always, please keep in mind that this executive order can certainly be modified or revoked at any time, and it is critical that you adhere to these directives and document your efforts to do so. 

Similarly, under Maryland's order and their  OLC legal interpretation, both auto dealerships and repair facilities are deemed to be essential businesses, though Governor Hogan said "those businesses must make every effort to scale down their operations in order to reduce staff, limit interactions with customers, and institute telework as much as is practical." We support these measures and will be following up shortly with additional communication around best practices in Maryland dealerships.

We are currently working on a template for essential workers in Virginia, similar to the one we have created for  critical infrastructure workers in Maryland. While Virginia's restrictions on retailers are not as stringent as Maryland's, we recommend that you modify the attached template so that you can provide it to your essential employees if they ultimately need it.

Please refer to the WANADA COVID-19 Information Page for detailed information on all state and federal mandates related to the crisis, plus links to resources for businesses and individuals impacted by the pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout. 

As we mentioned earlier, in addition to the Small Business Administration loans and Treasury Department funds made available by the CARES Act, Maryland, in particular, has over $130 billion in grant and loan funds available to impacted small businesses. We will certainly keep you updated if any additional resources become available.

If you have any questions, please contact myself or Joe Koch ( [email protected] ). If you have any questions about how these mandates may impact your benefits or insurance plans that you get through WANADA, please contact Ed Mullaney ( [email protected] ) or Connie Ryan ( [email protected] ).

Sincerely,
  
John O'Donnell
WANADA President and CEO