CNN Closes Offices to Nonessential Employees as COVID-19 Gains Strength

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - CNN is sending all of its nonessential employees to work from home amid a spike in coronavirus cases, network President Jeff Zucker said in a memo.

"Given the recent, sudden surge in Covid cases around the country, and within our teams at CNN, Turner Sports & WarnerMedia Studios, as of tonight we are CLOSING our offices to all employees who do not have to be in the office to do their jobs," the Saturday memo says, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal.

Zucker said that CNN made the decision to minimize the number of employees in office spaces out of an "abundance of caution."

For those still working from the office, face masks will be required at all times, except for eating and drinking, or being in a room alone, the CNN president specified.

Up until now, CNN employees were allowed to work from the office on a voluntary basis, but you have to be vaccinated in order to do so, a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. Three unvaccinated CNN employees were fired earlier this year after they came to work.