Delta Surge: Twitter shuts down offices, Google, Facebook tell staff to get vaccinated in US

Twitter is shuttering its headquarters and halting all reopening plans just two weeks after it began allowing staff to return to the office, the company said Wednesday, as employers nationwide struggle to restore in-person work while coronavirus cases spike and vaccination rates plateau.

Over 5,500. That’s how many people Twitter employed as of December 2020, according to the company’s annual report. A company spokesperson didn’t offer details on how many staffers work out of the company’s San Francisco and New York offices.

Coronavirus infections are rising again in all 50 states, ending months of optimism-inducing declines, a trend experts have blamed on the virus’ more contagious Delta variant as well as stubbornly low vaccination rates in some U.S. communities. Some employers are pressing ahead with plans to reopen workplaces, but they view vaccination as the safest way to bring employees back.

Facebook, Google and Morgan Stanley are requiring employees to prove their vaccination status before walking into the office again, and MGM Resorts has joined the states of New York and California in telling staff to choose between getting vaccinated or taking mandatory Covid-19 tests. President Joe Biden is reportedly weighing a similar vaccine-or-test mandate for the federal government, the nation’s largest employer.