Coronavirus: Google Delays Re-opening US Offices

Tom Jowitt,

Google offices in the United States are to remain shut until September, as Coronavirus infections surge in certain parts of America

The sudden increase of Coronavirus infections in the United States has led to Google to delay the re-opening of its US offices.

The Coronavirus really began to impact the world in March this year, with many tech firms ordering all non-essential staff to work from home, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook.

Many of those tech firms have said they will allow their staff to continue working from home until the Autumn, or even the rest of the year.

Google offices

Google had initially planned to re-open its US offices on 1 June, but then in late May said it would reopen US offices from 6 July, but only at approximately 10 percent of their capacity in order to maintain social distancing.

It said it would increase this to 30 percent in September, if conditions permitted.

However Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has previously indicated he would allow staff, if they wish, to continue to work remotely through the rest of this year.

But now Google has confirmed on Tuesday that it is delaying the reopening of its US offices by around two months because of a surge in the number of coronavirus cases in certain American states.

September re-opening

All of Google’s US offices will now remain closed at least until 7 September, Google spokeswoman Katherine Williams told Reuters.

Williams confirmed a Bloomberg report that cited an internal memo to employees sent by a Google executive.

“For all of you that are working from home, please continue to do so unless you are told otherwise by your manager,” Chris Rackow, Google’s vice president of global security, reportedly said in the memo.

“We don’t expect this guidance to change until Monday, 7 September (Labor Day in the US) at the earliest,” Rackow wrote, adding that the recent rise in coronavirus cases in the United States demonstrates that “Covid-19 is still very much alive”.

The United States is currently battling a surge of coronavirus cases in 14 US states, including California, Florida and Texas.

So far Coronavirus has killed 514,615 people around the world, but the United States has been hardest hit, with a total of 130,123 deaths, as of Wednesday 1 July 2020.

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