NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The 24,000 workers at Newport News Shipbuilding are the world's only makers of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
What they do is crucial to national defense, and they are important to local merchants who are trying their best to cater to them in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
"That's all we can do for right now and just hope that it ends soon so we can get back to serving the workers," said Rashal Moses, manager for a mobile Bojangles truck. "Smaller vendors, that affects them a lot. Because it's their only source of income, inside the yard. That's where the money's at."
Newport News Shipbuilding has advised employees to stay home from work if they're sick.
Additionally, in an e-mail, the company said, "Since schools are closed, Newport News Shipbuilding will institute liberal leave.... to provide employees with time to prepare as needed and to determine plans for family care. We anticipate the impact being long-term and are working on a plan to provide additional work schedule options and leave time options and will communicate those as they become finalized."
The shipyard's president, Jennifer Boykin, talked about the situation in a video clip posted on her Facebook page.
"We've instituted liberal leave because there are a number of our shipbuilders who are very clear in their communication that they're healthy and they want to come to work, they want to continue to be working," she said.
Boykin said that those who must miss time, need not worry about their jobs.
"There is no shipbuilder that should be concerned about their job if they're out for an illness, whether they're out for two days, 14 days or longer. They're absolutely going to have jobs to come back to," she said. "We want them to take care of themselves and their families and then we will welcome them back to work."
The last time the shipyard closed was in 2003 for Hurricane Isabel.