The world’s coronavirus (COVID-19) response is evolving swiftly. Our customers - whether they’re first responders, teachers, students, families, hospitals, government agencies or society at-large - rely on us to keep them connected. Therefore balancing our employees’ safety against the need to continue to support critical services and infrastructure is paramount.

During this pandemic we are all being encouraged to practice social distancing to slow down the spread and flatten the curve. Last week, we implemented a work-from-home strategy and are now rapidly expanding it to include more members of our team.

As part of our next phase, we are reducing the number of Verizon stores that remain open. However, our customers can still get the support and services they need 24/7 by visiting verizonwireless.com/support/, calling 800.922.0204 or using the MyVerizon app.

We know this is a difficult time and to alleviate the impact that some of our customers may experience, earlier this week we announced that for the next 60 days, we will waive late fees our residential or small business customers may incur because of the economic circumstances related to the coronavirus. And we will not terminate service to any of our residential or small business customers because of their inability to pay their bills due to hardships caused by the coronavirus.

We will continue to address these and other critical pandemic issues impacting our employees, customers and society. You should also know that our networks and our people stand ready to serve our customers at work, at home and remotely—including first responders and those protecting the public—when critical connectivity is needed most.

Hans Vestberg