The Oak Ridger’s reporter Ben Pounds reported on 3.25.2020 that Clayton Homes spokeswoman Gail Rymer confirmed a case of coronavirus hit at their headquarters in Maryville, TN.
“He self-quarantined and then sought medical advice,” Rymer reportedly told Pounds, adding that “They did a thorough cleaning of the [Clayton home office] facility over the weekend.”
More employees are telecommuting instead of coming into the Clayton’s Knoxville-metro area office building (featured image, top right). The account indicates their building has been cleaned twice. Pounds’ account is similar to the previous on reported by MHProNews in the link below.
Clayton Has Closed HUD Code Manufactured Home Plant
Following a report and tips from whistleblowers to MHProNews, local media has now confirmed that clearing crews moved into the Clayton Homes (CMH) production center in Addison, AL. According to My Northwest Alabamian Newspaper, on March 25, 2020 cleaning crews were spotted at the Clayton Homes building center in Addison, AL (see featured photo, top left). The facility was shut down for the balance of last week for “deep cleaning and sanitization.”
Caitlyn Crosby, media relations manager for Clayton, confirmed an employee in Addison has tested positive for coronavirus, which dovetails with the report from tipsters provided exclusively to MHProNews.
Stressing that the infected “…team member has not been in the facility for over a week,” Crosby said that employee had supposedly not traveled to other Clayton locations in the county or region. Clayton employees who had direct contact with the COVID19 infected individual have been spoken to, she stated, and are supposed to self-quarantine for 14 days.
In addition, Clayton’s spokeswoman indicated that the Addison facility will not be shipping any manufactured homes until Monday, March 30, when the facility will reopen. She pointed to their corporate policies that were previously outlined by MHProNews in the report linked below.
The instruction to close the Addison plant apparently came from Clayton’s internal chain of command.
Fresh News Tips
According to an informed source, the Clayton plant was re-opened on Monday March 30, but was then reclosed the same day due to new cases of infected employees. While there are conflicting claims, one source stated that the Addison production center won’t be re-opened until April 10, 2020.
Another message said the HUD Code manufactured home factory would be reopened in a week, once more following a cleaning and sanitization of the facilities. That distinction noted, multiple messages state that the re-open date will be April 10. But either way, the sense is that now several Clayton employees have contracted the coronavirus at that same production center, despite claims from Clayton media relations that the original case and contacted workers had been isolated.
MHProNews extends prayers and best wishes to all those workers who have been infected and exposed and we will continue to monitor the reports about the impacts of the spreading pandemic.
While early reports by medical experts regarding the coronavirus pandemic seemed to stress the greater threat to those over 65, more recent statements have made it clear that younger generations can be infected, suffer and can die too. The White House recently extended their guidance through April. See the related reports below the byline and notices for more COVID-19 related reports and analysis.
There are other Clayton Homes, Berkshire Hathaway and related developments that will be part of upcoming reports. But that’s a wrap on this installment of manufactured home “Industry News Tips and Views Pros Can Use” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHLivingNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing. For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com. This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.
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