COVID-19 Update

November 19, 2020

Last week, Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland held a press conference detailing the state’s response to the increasing threat of COVID-19.  This included a rollback to more restrictive measures further limiting capacity for retail establishments and religious facilities and early closure for bars and restaurants. 

The Frederick County Board of Health voted to impose further restrictions to help control the rampant spread of the novel coronavirus. These restrictions mandate that residents wear masks in all indoor public spaces as well as in outdoor public spaces when physical distancing can't be maintained with non-family members and limit all gatherings in residences and businesses to no more than 25 people.

The United States overall has seen average daily cases increase 43% compared to the previous 7 days, with 94% of U.S. jurisdictions seeing more cases. Clearly, we are headed into more difficult times. 

At Kiosk Group, we continue to be vigilant by requiring all staff who can work remotely to do so. Because we are a manufacturing facility and require certain staff to be present, we require masks to be worn, promote social distancing,  and continually clean and disinfect common areas. 

To date, we have been fortunate to maintain and continue our business operations. While at times we have seen disruptions to our supply chain, we have been able to fulfil all orders. 

On the positive side, we have had the opportunity to innovate through the development of products that help our customers open their facilities safely.

We have developed the CheckPoint screening kiosk that allows facilities to easily screen employees and visitors with a simple set of health questions. After screening, a date-stamped badge is printed for easy identification within a facility.

We offer sanitizing kits for most of our kiosk models that provide a gel or wipe dispenser and an optional bin to provide a convenient place to dispose of used wipes. These kits feature a mounting system that does not require any permanent modifications of the kiosk itself.

At Kiosk Group, we are focused on protecting our team and community while finding ways to help our customers safely reopen during these trying times.

- E. Alan Mischler, President/CEO

 

 

July 8, 2020

As Maryland has moved into Phase 2 reopening, Kiosk Group continues to operate in compliance with state, federal, and CDC guidelines with the restrictions previously outlined below. Our employees’ safety is always foremost in our minds and we continue to practice CDC recommendations for employee workplace safety as relates to COVID-19.

We remain committed to supporting our customers with kiosk solutions that promote social distancing and limit direct contact to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

As a part of that goal, we are announcing a new health screening kiosk solution called CheckPoint to allow businesses to more easily and effectively screen individuals coming into their facilities.

The CheckPoint health screening kiosk asks a simple series of questions based on current CDC guidelines. After screening, a date-stamped badge is printed for easy identification within the facility.

By combining our experience creating kiosk hardware and software to provide solutions like CheckPoint, Kiosk Group is evolving to meet the needs of our customers during this difficult time.

- E. Alan Mischler, President/CEO

May 19, 2020

Effective Friday, May 15th at 5pm, Maryland moved from a “Stay At Home” order to a “Safer At Home” public advisory.

At the same time, Governor Hogan announced that all manufacturing may resume operations in a “safe manner”. As an essential business, Kiosk Group has continued operations during this time while being in compliance with state, federal, and CDC guidelines and will remain open for business to accept and fulfill orders for software and hardware customers.

Employees on-site will continue to follow previous recommendations including physical distancing, wearing of masks, and increased sanitizing procedures. All employees that are able to work from home will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Our facilities will remain closed to visitors and we are making every effort to limit person-to-person contact during shipping and receiving.

We are constantly evaluating our safety protocols and will adjust as it makes sense to do so. The health and safety of our employees and customers is our foremost concern.

- E. Alan Mischler, President/CEO

April 8, 2020

As an essential business, we’re continuing to support our customers, employees, and community during this difficult time, while still maintaining the safety restrictions outlined in previous updates, as well as compliance with CDC-recommended protocols.

We’re prioritizing projects with customers in critical industries, including healthcare providers, retirement communities, and food-chain suppliers, to support self-service solutions for their visitors and employees.  

Kiosks can be used to augment traditional service solutions during this time,  supporting social distancing and reducing the spread of viruses, including COVID-19.

We’re focusing on new ways to make sure our kiosk solutions support that end goal, including new options for sanitizing our enclosures. To support our existing customer base, these solutions are designed to work with existing kiosks, as well as with new ones, making it possible to easily add them to projects already deployed in the field.

Finally, we are working on fabricating emergency face shields for local hospitals. One of the main challenges of this crisis has been the scarcity of personal protective equipment (also known as PPE) to protect healthcare workers and other members of our community. Partnering with the Maryland COVID-19 Emergency Relief Manufacturing Fund, we’re repurposing some of our large-scale CNC machines and manufacturing capacity to machine face shields consisting of a two-piece HDPE plastic frame and polycarbonate clear plastic front.

We recognize the tremendous challenges ahead and Kiosk Group is working hard every day to support our customers, community and employees and their families.

Stay healthy and be safe!

- E. Alan Mischler, President/CEO

March 24, 2020

Yesterday, Governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, announced by virtue of amending and restating the Executive Order of March 19th the closure of all non-essential businesses “open to the general public.”

The Maryland Office of Legal Counsel provided further interpretive guidance to include in the definition of essential businesses, those engaged in the Information Technology sector defined as (but not limited to):

“Companies that design, develop, distribute, host, sell and support information technology software and hardware.”

As such, Kiosk Group remains open for business to accept and fulfill orders for software and hardware customers.

On March 18th, Kiosk Group implemented a policy restricting access to its facility to only employees. More recently, Kiosk Group has required all employees who are able to work remotely to do so.

Currently, the only staff who are present at our facility are those who operate manufacturing, fabrication or printing equipment, those who execute the assembly and shipping of orders and those who oversee the security and management of the facility. This limits the attendance at our facility to fewer than 10 people.

We will continue to monitor state and federal announcements relating to this crisis and update our policies as required. In the meantime, we continue to exercise the utmost caution in maintaining business operations and the safety of our customers and employees.

We wish all the very best and continued safety and health during this crisis.

- E. Alan Mischler, President/CEO

March 18, 2020

At Kiosk Group, we understand that we have a vital role to play in helping to protect our community and we are taking that role seriously as it pertains to the spread of the coronavirus.

We are closely monitoring the daily updates being provided by the federal government and the State of Maryland. In Maryland, extraordinary measures have been taken by the Governor, Larry Hogan, to protect against the spread of the virus. These include closing all restaurants, bars and gyms statewide.

First and foremost, we are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy workplace for our employees. At Kiosk Group, we have established CDC recommended protocols to ensure the cleanliness of our facility. This includes routine cleanings and disinfecting of common areas and frequently touched surfaces not just daily but throughout the course of the business day. We are also emphasizing to our employees the importance of personal hygiene and cleanliness. Since we are a manufacturing company, we are also practicing here at our facility, to the extent possible, 'social distancing.' We are encouraging all employees to practice 'social distancing' in their private lives as well.

In keeping with this, effective immediately, we will be limiting access to our facility to only employees until further notice. Deliveries will still be made as usual at our shipping and receiving bay but every effort will be made to limit person-to-person contact.

At this point we are not experiencing significant delays or interruptions by our suppliers or to our production processes and we are able to maintain our usual delivery obligations. However, this remains a very fluid situation and should circumstances require Kiosk Group to address business in a different manner, we will certainly do so and keep you apprised of any change.

We wish all in this extraordinary time the very best. Be safe out there!

- E. Alan Mischler, President/CEO