CNN network president Jeff Zucker said in a company-wide memo Wednesday that “the majority” of CNN employees will not return to the network’s office this year due to health concerns stemming from the Chinese coronavirus, according to a report.
Zucker wrote, as was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter:
We expect that the majority of you will not be able to return to our offices this calendar year. What happens after that is still a question mark, as well. No doubt the world, and our understanding of the way COVID-19 continues to shape our lives and our work, will change countless times between now and then. But I know it is important as you all make decisions for your own lives and your families that you are equipped with the most honest and transparent information we can give you.
Fifteen percent of CNN staffers are currently working from the office, while “a few more” plan to return over the coming weeks. Zucker wrote:
When you consider physical distancing requirements, we simply cannot put the same number of people back into our workspaces that were there before the pandemic. So we need to make some tough decisions. We intend to spend the summer months hearing from all of you, and doing our best to balance the physical needs of our spaces with our production needs, as well as your preferences. And nothing happens without putting safety first. All of that will be taken into account as we make decisions about how and when we make the slow return back.
Zucker’s Wednesday memo comes after he told CNN employees that most of them won’t come back to the office “in any significant way before the end of the summer.”
Two CNN anchors, Chris Cuomo and Brooke Baldwin, have been infected and recovered from the coronavirus.