COVID-19 Update 2

Posted on Mar 19th, 2020
COVID-19 Update 2

To Our Customers and Our Communities:

Just about 72 hours ago, Mid Penn Bank (and its divisions Scottdale Bank and First Priority Bank) made a very difficult but also very important decision to temporarily close our retail lobbies after having them open continuously since the bank was founded 151 years ago.  That decision was made by the Board and Team after consulting with healthcare professionals we know (such as Dr. Scott Setzer in Camp Hill), but also listening carefully to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

From the very beginning of this healthcare crisis, we have been concerned for and committed to protecting, as much as possible, our customers and employees, the public health of our communities and the state of our local and national healthcare system.

If COVID-19 were to spread in this country as it has in others, the number of mid care and critical care patients in the country would overwhelm the healthcare system and lead to unnecessary deaths and a national catastrophe. So the terminology “Flatten The Curve” came into being. That concept is that, if we as Americans can do our part to “shelter in place” and/or “practice social distancing”, we can slow the spread of COVID-19, avoid any huge peak in the volume of patients overwhelming the system and move that peak closer to the time when they develop either a treatment, a vaccine or both. If we are successful in doing that, then we save lives while preventing unnecessary deaths, plain and simple.

Those lives are us. All of us. Mid Penn Bank customers and employees and the families of Mid Penn Bank customers and employees. Neighbors. Friends. Pennsylvanians. Americans.

Governor Tom Wolf, who has done a great job managing this healthcare crisis in this Commonwealth, asked Pennsylvanians in certain counties last week to close non-essential businesses and he encouraged all citizens to find a way to stay at home. Obviously, your access to your bank is an essential business. You need to open deposit accounts and transact in those accounts. You need to apply for and pay for loans. You need your money managed by a professional. You need your bills paid by your trust officer. You need to make investments. Or, you just need to ask some questions or have your voice heard. In 2020, with all the technology available to us, we can provide all of those services to you without you needing to risk yourself by walking into a retail lobby where dozens of other people may have been at some other point that day. Sure, we had committed just last week to sanitizing each lobby every hour on the hour, but that was not enough. This is an unprecedented communicable disease and it needs unprecedented decisioning and action to combat its effects. So, for now, we are asking that you use the drive through. The night deposit box. The telephone. Our online banking. Our mobile banking. Our ATMs (which we still wipe down every hour!). We have extended drive thru hours in some locations and will keep them that way as long as they are being used. And, if you really cannot get done what you need to get done via one of those ways just mentioned, call us. We will schedule a time for you to come in and safely get it done.

We love seeing our customers. Every day. It’s why we continuously beautify our retail locations. It’s why we offer pens, lollipops and coffee / tea to our customers (and dog biscuits to our canine customers!). It’s why we insist on hiring associates who will call you by the name you prefer, smile as they help you, and get your banking done quickly and professionally.

We will get back to that someday. Hopefully someday soon. Just not now. Now we will provide every essential service to you while we do our part for public health. You have my word that we will work as diligently as possible to make sure this works for you, whoever you are and however complex or simple your relationship is with us.

I have asked our dozens of great customer-facing employees to begin making calls to all customers this week. It is our goal to talk to each and every one of our customers hopefully by next week. If you do not receive a call, please call me. My direct line number and my mobile number are on this communication, as is my email address.

Thank you for trusting Mid Penn Bank with your banking needs. Together, we will get through this. So will Pennsylvania. So will America. God Bless Us All as we navigate this new normal.

 

Rory G. Ritrievi
President and CEO
Mid Penn Bancorp, Inc
2407 Park Drive
Harrisburg, PA 17110
rory.ritrievi@midpennbank.com
(717) 692-7103(Office)
(717) 979-3304(Mobile)

Follow me on Twitter @MPBRory

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