Twitter closes its New York and San Francisco offices as virus resurges

Twitter is closing its New York and San Francisco offices as companies in technology and other fields backtrack on plans to reopen their headquarters amid a resurgence of COVID-19. 

The social media company had reopened its offices in both cities on July 12 and allowed workers to return on a voluntary basis. Employees reporting to the company's spaces were required to be vaccinated. 

But the recent rise in the more virulent Delta variant of the coronavirus has once again made co-working a risky proposition, even for vaccinated individuals. 

"After careful consideration of the CDC's updated guidelines, and in light of current conditions, Twitter has made the decision to close our opened offices in New York and San Francisco as well as pause future office reopenings, effective immediately," a Twitter spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch. "We're continuing to closely monitor local conditions and make necessary changes that prioritize the health and safety of our Tweeps."

The spokesperson did not indicate how many Twitter employees had been working out of the now-closed offices. 

Twitter's move follows a fresh recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals to wear masks in public, indoor spaces where local COVID-19 case counts are surging dur to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. 

Some 63% of U.S. counties currently have a "high" or "substantial" spread of the virus, according to the CDC. 

Just weeks ago, many small and large corporations and their employees had circled Sept. 7 — the day after Labor Day — as a target return-to-office date.  But they too have pulled back on plans to summon workers back to the office, given the risks that the more transmissible Delta variant poses. 

Tech giant Apple has pushed its return-to-office date back a month to October at the earliest, Bloomberg reported, citing people at Apple familiar with the matter. And Google on Wednesday told employees they could continue to work from home through at least mid-October. 

The hiring website Indeed has also moved its corporate return-to-office date from Sept. 7, 2021, to Jan. 3, 2022, saying concerns over new COVID-19 variants motivated the lengthy postponement.