The Latest COVID-19 Spike Has Google Holding Off On Reopening US Offices

Google had originally planned to bring certain employees back to its office beginning on July 6th, but it looks like the search giant isn’t quite ready to bring its workers back just yet. Now, Google says all US offices shall remain closed until at least September 7th. This move is in direct response to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases..

Google Vice President of global security, Chris Rackow, wrote in a memo, ‘While conditions do vary from state to state, we need to see that the US outlook as a whole is stable before we move forward. As the recent resurgence of cases demonstrates, COVID-19 is still very much alive in our communities.’

On Tuesday, California saw 8,441 new cases, its highest single-day increase in since the pandemic started. The US as a whole also saw its largest single-day spike, seeing 47,000 new cases.

Google was planning to return necessary employees to its offices on a ‘rotating basis,’ meeting around 10 percent capacity of their Office. The company was hoping to increase that capacity slowly to around 30 percent by mid-September. Google will more than likely take a similar approach when it does actually re-open, and it has ensured that it will take ‘rigorous’ safety measures.

Google has had its employees working from their homes since early March, and the search giant said they continue working remotely for the rest of 2020. Facebook also told its workers to perform their duties from home for the rest of the year. Amazon Corporate employees are all working from home until October at the earliest, and Twitter is letting employees work from home indefinitely.

Featured Image Credit: [pexels/Markus Spiske]