Citizens Statement of Preparedness — We are Here to Help You

As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) begins to have a greater impact across our communities, your Cooperative is here to assist and support you. Our team is proactively monitoring the situation and has implemented a Contingency Plan which provides a comprehensive strategy to protect the organization from events that can disrupt normal business functions. Rest assured, we are positioned to continue providing critical communication services to the business, education, and residents in the communities we serve

Our employees are following guidelines to help prevent the spread of the virus, including frequent and thorough washing of hands and keeping work surfaces and equipment clean. Like many organizations, we have limited any non-essential corporate travel to large events and requested that any teammates who are or become sick stay home. 

We are prepared – We are here to serve you.

Our team is committed to our community and prepared to give top priority to supply Internet access to students without in order to meet educational requirements should online instruction take effect.

We are prepared to support work from home and online learning efforts.  If you have these needs, please call 540.745.2111 or 276.637.6485 to discuss.

Protecting your information

Cybercriminals are using concerns about the virus to launch phishing attacks. These emails may try to entice you with the promise of the latest coronavirus information, the sale of scam products or the request for personal or business-sensitive information. Because of this, please be cautious of clicking on email links or opening attachments referencing the coronavirus, unless you are sure they are from a trusted source. In addition, if your devices do not have a virus protection software installed, know that Citizens offers a robust virus protection software for $5.95. One easy to download and install subscription covers up to four of your devices — smartphones, tablets, laptops and/or desktop computer.

Protecting You – Service at your convenience

If you are wanting to reduce in-person interactions, which we encourage, you can use one of the various methods that Citizens offers to conduct business. We have forms on each of our core service pages on our website that enable you to communicate with our teams. 

At any time, you may continue to call our office as our Contingency Plan includes our ability to handle phone calls even if our office is closed. 

Our 24/7 Support team (1.800.741.9525)  is also on hand to assist or direct your need to an appropriate teammate who will return a call to assist you.  

Should a premise visit be required, please know that our staff will be forthright in inquiring about recent fever and illness as an effort to keep the virus at bay. 

In addition, we offer Citizens E-Care that allows you to subscribe to new services, pay your bill, make changes to your existing services, and report service issues.  If you haven’t enrolled, you can quickly get started at https://citizens.coop/myaccount/ or call our office at 540.745.2111 or 276.637.6485 during office hours. We will be glad to assist you in setting up your Citizens E-Care account. 

We will continue to monitor this health situation and adjust our plan as needed. If you have questions about COVID-19, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/, World Health Organization https://www.who.int/ and Virginia Department of Health (VDH) http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus websites are good sources for accurate and up-to-date information.