Three Years Later, COVID-19 Still Threatens to Disrupt Work, Summer Plans

The continued presence of COVID-19 is disrupting what could’ve been a summer of renewed confidence in going out, a report from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) says.

This comes as there’s been a decrease in deaths and more acute illness — as opposed to the early days of the outbreak — due to the protection from vaccines and previous infections.

But epidemiologists, including Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida College of Public Health, have said there are still storm clouds on the horizon limiting how people are able to act in the world.

“People can’t come to work. People are short-staffed,” he said. “COVID-19 is still inflicting enough damage.”

The report notes how many people have been resuming daily life as it was, including more weddings, more airplane flights and going out in general.

This comes amid a huge glut of cases in the U.S., with around 100,000 cases a day — and an untold number not officially logged because of unreported home tests.

In 2021, cases were below 12,000 a day – the lowest since the first surge in early 2020, the report says.

PYMNTS wrote that the pandemic has seen a number of shifts, including a focus on working remotely.

Read more: Block to Shut San Francisco HQ, Switch to Remote Workforce

One such recent development has seen Block deciding to permanently do away with its physical headquarters in San Francisco in favor of letting employees work from home.

This will take place officially as of the expiration of the lease in September 2023.

One factor is that employees won’t be returning to traditional offices as the restrictions from the pandemic ends.

The office, set in the city’s Mid-Market district, is around 470,000 square feet, and the company has said previously it wouldn’t be needed anymore due to the number of employees already doing remote work full-time.