Google Postpones US Office Reopening to September as Coronavirus Cases Spike

Alphabet's Google said late on Tuesday that it was delaying the reopening of its US offices by around two months because of a surge in the number of coronavirus cases in some states.

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

Google said in late May it would reopen buildings in more cities at roughly 10 percent of their capacity beginning July 6 and scale it up to 30 percent in September, if conditions permitted.

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, said in the memo.

"We don't expect this guidance to change until Monday, September 7 (Labor Day) 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 development comes as coronavirus cases in June more than doubled in 14 US states, including California, Florida, and Texas, a Reuters analysis on Tuesday showed.

Nationally, cases rose by at least 46 percent and deaths increased by 21 percent during the month.

On Tuesday alone, new US COVID-19 cases rose by more than 47,000, according to a Reuters tally, the biggest one-day spike since the start of the pandemic that has claimed nearly 510,000 lives worldwide.

© Thomson Reuters 2020

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