The Delta variant may be rapidly fading now but major US corporations are already bracing for another burst higher in new cases as the winter approaches, ostensibly due to the imminent arrival of the new Mu variant: case in point, the WSJ just reported that Microsoft is abandoning plans to fully reopen its headquarters and other U.S. sites early next month and won’t set a new date, for now, given the uncertainty around Covid-19.
“We’ve decided against attempting to forecast a new date for a full reopening of our U.S. work sites in favor of opening U.S. work sites as soon as we’re able to do so safely based on public health guidance,” the software giant said in a blog post. Instead, the software giant said it would move to a 30-day “transition period” approach and notify staff with lead time when offices are slated to generally reopen.
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Microsoft joins several of its big-tech peers which already delayed office reopenings to next year. Last month, Apple said its U.S. corporate offices wouldn’t fully reopen until at least January. Amazon.com earlier that month announced similar plans.
Last month, Microsoft said it was delaying the full reopening of its U.S. offices from possibly September to at least Oct. 4 because of “fluid conditions” around the pandemic. At the time, Microsoft also said it would require proof of vaccination for all employees, vendors, and any guests entering its U.S. facilities, joining tech companies such as Google and Facebook that are requiring all employees at their domestic campuses to be vaccinated.