During this entire pandemic, Tier3MD has not closed its doors. Are IT support staff essential workers? We have communicated with our customers that if they can wait for “non-emergency” IT issues, we would appreciate it so that we could limit the amount of times our staff would have to come on site. Seeing that we go into so many offices on a weekly basis, we not only want to protect our staff, but we also need to protect our customers. Every time we go into an office we touch mice, keyboards, etc. Of course we wear our masks and sanitize our hands, but our risk is extremely high. We are essential workers but are we actually seen as essential workers?

What Makes an Essential Worker?

The first wave of shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders in response to COVID-19 largely consisted of local governments asking residents of cities and counties to stay in their homes, away from their businesses. State and federal officials quickly recognized that some statewide measures and/or federal guidelines would be helpful to align the efforts of overlapping jurisdictions. At this point, 46 states and Washington, DC have issued some sort of guidance on which sectors and industries they consider “essential” despite pandemic-related restrictions. According to the U..S Department of Homeland Security, essential workers are those who conduct a range of operations and services that are typically essential to continue critical infrastructure operations. Critical infrastructure is a large, umbrella term encompassing sectors from energy to defense to agriculture.

Vaccine

When are we entitled to the vaccine? Are we considered healthcare workers? We certainly don’t want to cut the line but we also don’t want to be super spreaders!

Hopefully, this will all be behind us soon and we can freely support our customers in a way both we and you are accustomed to.

 

Have a great day!