As the COVID-19 crisis took hold last month, laundry operators in various sectors of the linen, uniform and facility services industry responded quickly and effectively to an array of challenges as they sought to continue operations, while protecting employees and customers in a business environment that had turned upside-down – practically overnight. Below are brief profiles of companies in the healthcare and industrial sectors. A second article in this edition of Textile Services Weekly will address the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality and food-and-beverage operators.

As the COVID-19 crisis took hold last month, laundry operators in various sectors of the linen, uniform and facility services industry responded quickly and effectively to an array of challenges as they sought to continue operations, while protecting employees and customers in a business environment that had turned upside-down – practically overnight. Below are brief profiles of companies in the food and beverage (F&B) and hospitality sectors. A second article in this edition of Textile Services Weekly will address the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare and industrial operators.

We are now in the midst of a pandemic, and the impact of the coronavirus is increasingly being felt across the United States and the rest of the world. During this time, employees are under a tremendous amount of stress, both personally and professionally.

In a recent survey of 160 linen, uniform and facility services operators, respondents praised Textile Services, TRSA’s monthly magazine, as a valuable resource in today’s highly competitive markets. The news and information that Textile Services provides is even more critical now – as operators seek to survive and ultimately recover from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Karl Fillip II, COO of NOVO Health Services, Atlanta, recently took questions from Textile Services Weekly on steps his company’s taking at its 11 facilities, located mainly across the U.S. South and Midwest, to protect employees from the coronavirus, aka, COVID-19. Fillip’s company also was recognized recently with a SafeTRSA Award for excellence in incident prevention. His responses to our questions appear below.

In a recent briefing on COVID-19, Vice President Mike Pence (R) asked whether it is feasible to return to reusable healthcare garments that can be laundered and reused. The resounding answer is ‘Yes!’ Reusable personal protective equipment (PPE) has already proven to be safe and effective and their use needs to be greatly expanded to prevent the types of shortages that hospitals are now experiencing.

TRSA will travel to the Chicago area this summer with the hosting of its Third Annual Leadership Summit on July 15 at the Hyatt Lodge at McDonald’s Campus, Oak Brook, IL. This summit will offer unique opportunities for CEOs/executives, next-generation executives and emerging leaders to learn and collaborate candidly through peer-level session tracks. Also featured are several opportunities for networking both with peers and the attendees of the other featured tracks. Executives seeking to build a solid leadership team should bring their next generation executives and emerging leaders to this professional development opportunity.

As companies navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, they should take stock of existing insurance policies that may provide coverage for current loss of business. While this pandemic and the government response is unprecedented, your business may encounter several issues giving rise to a claim under one or more types of insurance policies. It is important to know where your business stands when navigating insurance during this period of change and uncertainty. Victor Marchetti, Gia Diep, Mike Halter and Tom Flynn of Haylor, Freyer & Coon, Inc., offered their insights and expertise during an April 9 TRSA webinar.

Members are invited to join TRSA task forces that will create industrywide resources to support linen, uniform and facility services operators in returning to their previous revenue levels. This will aid them in developing strategies specific to the industry’s four all-encompassing customer market classifications: food and beverage (F&B), healthcare, hospitality and industrial.

A section of the recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides the U.S. Department of Treasury $500 billion to provide loans and loan guarantees. To be eligible for this program, a company must not otherwise receive adequate economic relief from other provisions of the bill.