During our lockdown of COVID-19 we have seen many companies and employees deemed essential, we have also seen companies that don’t normally make masks start to make them. This is the case with BMW who now joins the fight and will now make masks, and also Feds have now classified powersports as essential workers. This Quarantine has brought out the good and bad in everyone, but we here at AMERiders only want to show you the good if at all possible with our articles.
Powersports Workers As Essential Personnel During Quarantine
Thank your local moto-lobbyists: Powersports industry workers have now been classified as essential personnel by the US federal government. This means many dealerships and other motor-related businesses can get back to more-or-less regular working hours—if they wish to.
The news comes as the population of the US is divided on the issue of COVID-19 quarantines. Some people believe the coronavirus pandemic requires extreme shutdown measures to avoid the spread of the disease. Others believe the situation has been blown out of proportion and want the country to return to normal conditions.
The situation is complicated further by the fact that some businesses have been classified as essential, and allowed to remain open as long as certain social distancing protocols are followed. This varies by jurisdiction, to some extent, but automotive repair businesses were always classified as essential under the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) guidelines.
Thanks to lobbying by powersports industry figures, CISA updated the language in its Guidance on Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers. It now gives essential status to: “Workers critical to the manufacturing, distribution, sales, rental, leasing, repair, and maintenance of vehicles and other transportation equipment (including electric vehicle charging stations) and the supply chains that enable these operations to facilitate continuity of travel-related operations for essential workers.” In plain-speak, the revision means many powersports personnel are now classified as essential, along with the automotive sector.
If they wish to, many motorcycle dealers should now be free to re-open, along with other powersports businesses. The question is, are they going to? Even before government-mandated shutdowns, many powersports businesses were making drastic changes to their businesses, shutting down storefronts, and laying off staff. Along with a concern for employees’ health, many managers and owners also realized the COVID-19 pandemic was causing a major drop in dealership traffic. No matter what the federal government says, the powersports industry may still be slow to re-open if bosses, their workers, or their customers aren’t interested. This Quarantine has kicked all of us in the patootie.
BMW makes masks for COVID-19
In a war effort-like kind of movement, an increasing number of motorcycle manufacturers are stepping up and getting involved in fighting the coronavirus. Some, like MV Agusta, Yamaha, and Benelli, have donated precious personal protection equipment (PPE), masks, ventilators, and respirators to hospitals and organizations that need it the most. Others like Pirelli and Dainese contributed financially.
For some companies, pitching in means adapting their activities to the needs of the health crisis we’ve been enduring for a little over a month now. On the car side of the industry, manufacturers such as Ford and General Motors have paired up with healthcare equipment suppliers to help assemble and manufacture critical equipment such as ventilators and respirators. BMW has now announced that it will join the ranks by turning its production over to masks.
In a press release, BMW announced that it will soon be able to produce “several hundred thousand masks per day”. Leading up to this decision, the company had already handed out 100,000 masks from its own stock. On Wednesday, it added yet another 50k masks and a million gloves to the list with the promise of an additional million face masks being manufactured in April for workers and personnel working during the quarantine.
In addition to the refocused activities, the manufacturer announced that its facilities in Europe, North America, and South Africa will remain closed at least until April 30, 2020. This announcement follows a string of recent big moves by the manufacturer over the past week. BMW announced that it will opt out of Intermot and EICMA on April 1 before unveiling the all-new R18 on April 3. On the customer front, the company has postponed any new vehicle pickup from the BMW Welt to May 3, 2020, and will also provide customers with extended warranties.
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