COVID-19 Statement

On March 31, Texas Governor Abbott issued “Executive Order No. GA-14 relating to statewide continuity of essential services and activities during the COVID-19 disaster” for all of Texas on a statewide basis effective 12:01 a.m. on April 2, 2020, and continuing through April 30, 2020. Per Governor Abbott’s Order “all government entities and businesses should be allowed to continue providing essential services during the COVID-19 disaster, and all critical infrastructure should be allowed to remain operational.”

PetData, Inc. continues to stay open because it falls within the definition of an “Essential Business or Operation” as described in Governor Abbott’s order “Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce: Ensuring Community and National Resilience in COVID-19 Response Version 2.0”:

“Postal, parcel, courier, last-mile delivery, and shipping and related workers, to including private companies” are essential.
In addition, “Workers who are needed to provide, process and maintain systems for processing, verification, and recording of financial transactions and services, including payment, clearing, and settlement;”

PetData sends and receives over 3 million pieces of mail annually for more than 80 municipalities in 23 states covering a population of over 18 million citizens. These municipalities include states and communities under Shelter/Safe in Place Orders, and include, but are not limited to: the State of Delaware; 23 cities and counties in the State of California; City of Kansas City, Missouri and the City of Bothell, Washington. The United States Postal Service clarified that companies in the mailing and shipping services are considered essential services. It is vital that key parts of the mailing and shipping supply chains remain open during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Per the USPS:

“Postal and shipping workers, including those in the private sector, are also considered essential critical infrastructure workers under recent guidance issued by the Department of Homeland Security. White House and CDC guidance has also stated that such industries have a special responsibility to maintain normal work schedules.

The functioning of the postal system depends critically on the mailing and printing industry. Members of the mailing and printing industry work with the public and private sector to create, print, and enter essential mail into the postal system. The industry also serves a vital role in ensuring that packages are able to be efficiently shipped from sender to recipient.

Therefore, the Postal Service considers that the continued operations of the mailing and printing industry in enabling the delivery of critical mail and packages is vital to the Postal Service’s continued performance of its essential functions.”

Furthermore, PetData receives over $1 million in payments each month on behalf of our clients. These individual check payments from citizens are each made out directly to our City, County, and State government clients. PetData is responsible for tracking and depositing those checks on a daily basis on behalf of our municipal clients, and remitting payment to those municipalities. As such, PetData provides critical funds to government entities.

In addition, Essential Government Functions include “All services provided by local governments needed to ensure the continuing operations of the government agencies to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the public.” PetData receives over 50,000 vaccination certificates monthly. Municipalities rely on PetData to process rabies certificates on a daily basis, and many of our contracts specifically require PetData to provide daily data updates. In short, PetData’s service is an essential government function, and PetData remains operational to “ensure the continuing operation of the government agencies to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the public”.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Christopher Richey, President and CEO • 469-916-4515 • [email protected]
Ann Campbell, Communications Director • 214-821-3100 ext. 525 • [email protected]