Northern Virginia is expected to move to Phase 1 on Friday, May 29th and the District of Columbia shortly thereafter. We continue to remain open, with drastically reduced operations and staff. In the past few weeks, we have adopted several new policies and procedures focused on health and safety that we would like to update you on.
New procedures:
- Per Phase 1 requirements, signs will be posted stating that no one with a fever or symptoms of COVID-19, or known exposure to a COVID-19 case in the prior 14 days, is permitted in the facility.
- Employees are required to wear face masks when interacting with customers in our building, during curb-side drop-off and pick-up, or when in a customer's home to conduct a dog walk or pet sit.
- Customers are required to wear a face mask when entering our building. We have hand-sanitizer in our lobby but please continue to use curb-side drop-off and pick-up (more below).
- Employees are required to check their temperatures before starting work if they are remote, and at the start of their shift if they are on site. We have a no-touch thermometer on site to validate no one with an elevated temperature is on site.
What we are continuing to do:
- We are offering all services that allow us to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
- For dog walking and pet sitting, we can work out procedures specific to each home to ensure minimal contact (e.g. dog located in specific room, text as arriving, etc.). Just give our office a call and we’ll add them to your file and inform your dog walker or pet sitter. In general, our team's approach is to minimize any time and contact inside a customer's home. We will continue to keep you updated on any schedule changes/substitutions when a team member communicates any COVID-19 health related concern to us.
- For dog daycare, please use our curbside pick-up. Just pull into our parking lot and text us at 77-FGMN CURB (773-466-2872).
- We continue to perform a thorough cleaning and disinfection of frequently used surfaces.
- We offer ample opportunity for clients to shop and pay online without the need to enter our building. We also offer free home delivery to a small area, if you would like to purchase treats, toys, or chews on Fur-Get Me Not's online store.
- We are washing our hands and using hand sanitizer regularly. Our dog walkers and pet sitters are following safe practices before and after caring for your pet.
- We are continuing to offer online dog training sessions.
We are similar to many other service and hospitality businesses and are struggling to generate enough revenue to cover rent, wages, and other operating expenses. When the region shut down, we had to drastically reduce our operations and take out loans to stay open and support our team. As our region starts to open up, we understand that everyone will have their own timetable on when you'll feel comfortable to resume using our services again. We are incredibly appreciative of your past and continuing support. We know the pandemic has impacted many people's lives in many different ways.
We hope that by providing you additional details about how we are continuing to keep our employees safe, and do our part to minimize the spread of this virus while operating, that it gives you some comfort in continuing to use our services or to start using them again. This virus is going to be around for awhile and we are doing everything we can, within CDC guidelines, to operate safely so that we can be here for you and your pets. We continue to learn about the virus as new research becomes available and how to safely navigate life right along with you. Thankfully any animal to human transmission remains a very low risk.
We will continue to update our
COVID-19 page
to keep you informed as our business operations adapt to the new normal.
Thank you for trusting us to care for your pets.
Sincerely,
Tammy & Steve
