On March 3rd, 2020 we activated our Business Continuity Plan and convened our Crisis Management Team in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, there were no reported cases of COVID-19 in Idaho.
Arising from the confirmation of COVID-19 infection cases in two of the eight counties that comprise our Magic Valley location in Idaho, on March 20th, we activated Phase 2 of our Business Continuity Plan. This Phase of our plan along with communication with customers and employees initiated an enhanced level of GMP protocols, new actions in relation to our temporary stay at home/PTO policy, increased restrictions around plant visitors, the next level of identification/training of back up staff and follow up with suppliers.
The purpose of this heightened level of vigilance is to ensure continuity of production and quality of our products along with safeguards for all our employees.
As the situation continued to escalate in the Magic Valley region, we took steps to ensure our employees carry documentation that identifies them as Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers as designated by the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security of the Department of Homeland Security in his memorandum of March 19th, 2020. This status exempts our healthy employees from locally issued Shelter in Place Orders or other Orders issued by local, State and Federal organizations and may be needed to support their commute to work.
Phase 3 of our Business Continuity Plan deals with the potential for a material number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 amongst our employees. While we hope that our enhanced risk mitigation procedures will not necessitate it, as a result of the actions of Phase 2, we now have back up staff trained and ready to step in and fill all critical roles should the need arise. Everyone at Idaho Milk Products is emboldened by the obligation we feel to continue doing what we do without interruption during these challenging times.