Page 133 - FDCC Pandemic Book

Living in a Pandemic: A Collection of Stories on Coping, Resilience & Hope
Warp Speed, FedEx began preparing its biomedical distribution capabilities to accommodate transportation of a COVID-19 vaccine, as soon as it was approved for use. The FedEx network was well-positioned to handle vaccine shipments around the world with temperature-control solutions, near real-time monitoring capabilities and a dedicated healthcare team to support the express transportation of vaccines and bioscience shipments. Built over 47 years, the FedEx network consists of more than 5,000 facilities, 670 aircraft, 180,000 vehicles, and – most importantly – nearly 600,000 dedicated team members worldwide. FedEx Express has more than 90 cold chain facilities across five continents, which are critical to the safe and efficient shipment of vaccines and other lifesaving pharmaceuticals. To the extent vaccine shipments require the use of dry ice, FedEx Express safely transports approximately 500,000 dry ice shipments a month.
In March and April as the pandemic expanded exponentially in the U.S., the entire FedEx system was working overtime on a myriad of fronts to adapt its workforce to the new realities of shutdowns and business closures. As an essential business, FedEx continued its operations, keeping the world’s healthcare, industrial, and at- home supply chains moving. Since that time, FedEx has continued to contribute to relief efforts on a scale that is almost difficult to fathom. For example, from February 2020 through the end of 2020, FedEx Express delivered more than 60 kilotons of personal protective equipment, including more than 2 billion masks, and more than 9,600 humanitarian aid shipments around the globe. Who we are and what we do.
The challenges of handling business shutdowns and delivering PPE were magnified by the increasing reliance by the public on the internet for ordering basic necessities. This explosive growth in ecommerce created package volumes in the FedEx network which were normally seen only during the peak shipping months leading up to the holidays. But because of its proactive planning for the growth of e-commerce, FedEx was also positioned to support its customers as people stayed home and shopped online. These strategies were indispensable in managing peak-like shipping volumes in the U.S. since March 2020. And the 2020 peak holiday season, dubbed “Shipathon,” produced unprecedented volumes of packages in the FedEx network as retail business suffered through government-imposed shutdowns, and vast segments of the population ordered gifts online and had them delivered via FedEx.
As the pandemic raged on, the work within the FedEx legal department matched the frenetic pace of the operations. Attorneys worked feverishly to keep up with the daily pronouncements from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding masks, face coverings, close contacts, and quarantine protocols, and to put in place procedures to ensure that guidance was followed. Meanwhile, states and local health departments instituted their own protocols which required
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