Northwood Investments, the parent company to both Outdoors RV and Northwood Manufacturing, has been the cite of a workplace outbreak of COVID-19. Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division has received three COVID-19 workplace complaints against the La Grande company.

LA GRANDE — La Grande-based Northwood Manufacturing and its related company Outdoors RV announced temporary shutdowns of their recreational vehicle manufacturing facilities.

Northwood Investments, the parent company of Northwood Manufacturing and Outdoors RV, issued a news release explaining the closures are a “measure to protect workers and the community as a whole as the coronavirus crisis spreads across the country.”

Lance Rinker, director of purchasing and marketing for the companies, said each plant has 240 line workers. Add in office staff and the total number of employees exceeds 500, and they live throughout Union County. And the nature of manufacturing presents hurdles to following recommendations for sanitation and social distancing.

“People can’t pick up that staple gun and go over here and wash their hands,” he said.

The better move, then, Rinker said, is to cut out the risk of transmitting the virus, protect employees and protect the wider community.

“You don’t know who all you’re going to impact,” he said. “We’re going to err on the side of caution.”

That attitude is coming from the top down, he said, starting with owner Sherry Nash and right through to Northwood Investments CEO Craig Orton, who in a news release stated, “The well-being of our employees, their families and our community is our top priority, so we have decided our best course of action at this time is a temporary shutdown.”

Rinker said everyone at the plants would much rather have them humming along, but the leadership at the company is evaluating the shutdowns weekly.

The closures came Monday afternoon in the wake of Gov. Kate Brown’s order prohibiting gatherings of 25 or more people, urging Oregonians not to convene in groups of more than 10 people and banning on-site consumption of food and drink at restaurants and bars to help contain the new coronavirus. The governor late Tuesday ordered schools closed for six weeks.

“This is a challenging moment for everyone,” Northwood Investments CFO Cerise Smallwood said in the announcement, but added the community has risen to challenges of the past and will do so in this crisis. Rinker said Northwood Manufacturing and Outdoors RV will do the same.

The companies go back 27 years, he said, and “have seen some things,” such as the economic downturn in the wake of 9/11 and the Great Recession. RV manufacturing and sales also are a harbinger of the economy, he said, and can be the first to feel the pinch when people stop spending disposable income. But, he stressed, RV manufacturing also is one of the first industries to bounce back.

“As long as there is going to be RV sales, we feel confident we will get ours,” he said.

That’s not so much a boast, he added, but the reality of the resale value of the company’s RV, and that quality is a result of the dedication from the front-line workers. Northwood Investments must protect itself and its employees, he said, to ensure the jobs are there to keep the products coming.

Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative in a similar move announced it is closing its offices in Baker City, La Grande, John Day and Burns to the public effective Tuesday at 5 p.m.

“The offices will remain closed to walk-in traffic until further notice,” according to the cooperative’s announcement. “The drive-through window at our La Grande district office will remain open. Appointments for in-person business will be available by calling 541-523-3616.”

Oregon Trail Electric also announced it is temporarily suspending late fees and disconnections. Customers can call the companies offices at 541-523-3616 if they are having difficulty paying the electric bill.