Dr. Vin Gupta, critical care pulmonologist and affiliate faculty of the University of Washington School of Medicine, joins 'Closing Bell' to talk about what employers should do in terms of returning back to work. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: [ Ссылка ]
As January nears, more workers will be going back to offices, not all at once and maybe not five days a week, but return to work will begin in earnest for more of the U.S. labor force in 2022. Are employers rushing, especially as the omicron variant of Covid presents new risks during winter peak flu season?
According to Dr. Vin Gupta, critical care pulmonologist and affiliate faculty member at the University of Washington School of Medicine, there is probably more reason to keep current work-from-home employees away from the office, at least until April or May, than to bring them back soon.
Speaking last week to members of the CNBC Workforce Executive Council during a virtual town hall, Gupta said that for companies with workforces that are largely work-from-home right now, “I see no reason, no scientific justification, certainly no psychological reason, to bring your workforce back before April 1, at the earliest, into a workplace setting.”
“Before April 1 doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” he said.
Part of Gupta’s view is based on his experience as a pulmonologist. The delta variant is still causing many deaths in the U.S., largely among the unvaccinated, and the omicron variant is anticipated to become a significant factor in 2022. And those Covid trends are taking place during the uncertainty regarding flu season and all of the other respiratory viruses that exist during the winter that take advantage of cold, dry air. While the U.S. did suffer from the delta surge in the height of summertime, that is not a reason to overlook the seasonal effect, but rather, remember that winter could be “absolutely worse,” he said.
Based on the data coming from South Africa and other places where early testing and sequencing of omicron is being done, it is clear that there’s a straight line up in terms of cases detected over time, Gupta told chief human resource officers on the CNBC council. This virus variant profile is distinct from delta, which had a sharp rise but was a bit more gradual. “I think it’s a matter of time before omicron becomes the dominant variant, because it’s outcompeting delta in places where we think it first originated,” Gupta said, adding that it will become the dominant strain over the next weeks and in the months ahead.
The U.K. confirmed its first death from the omicron variant on Monday.
The U.S. health system, already suffering from the strain of delta cases, will be further stressed and the headlines “are not going to be pretty” for the next few months.
“Even if it’s less lethal, it’s still going to infect more people and the unvaccinated, frankly, are defenseless, they’re going to end up in the hospital at a greater rate,” Gupta said.
Many companies are delaying plans to return to offices, though not only because of omicron. Apple pushed back its return to February even before news of omicron broke. Since the new variant’s emergence, Google pushed back a planned Jan. 10 return date. Meta is now offering workers not already back in the office the option to defer return by another three to five months.
On Monday afternoon, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman told CNBC he was wrong to push workers back to offices earlier in the Covid crisis, and “everybody’s still finding their way,” but over half of the bank’s staff in its New York City headquarters are now back and 95% of employees are vaccinated.
» Subscribe to CNBC TV: [ Ссылка ]
» Subscribe to CNBC: [ Ссылка ]
Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide.
The News with Shepard Smith is CNBC’s daily news podcast providing deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day’s most important stories. Available to listen by 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT daily beginning September 30: [ Ссылка ]
Connect with CNBC News Online
Get the latest news: [ Ссылка ]
Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: [ Ссылка ]
Follow CNBC News on Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Follow CNBC News on Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Follow CNBC News on Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
#CNBC
#CNBCTV
