CNN’s Zucker Says Majority of Workforce Won’t Return to Offices for Months

President of CNN Worldwide, Jeff Zucker, in New York on June 13, 2019. Mike Coppola/Getty Images

CNN President Jeff Zucker, in an email to employees, said most the network’s workforce won’t return to offices before September.

“Our expectation is that the rest of you will not return before early September, with a few exceptions in July for newsgathering and some in August, depending on the political conventions,” Zucker wrote in an email obtained by Deadline, TheWrap, and the Daily Beast.

Most of CNN’s employees have been working at home due to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

He noted that none of the dates “are set in stone” and noted many questions that are “left to be answered before we can move forward.”

“But, to be clear, production of our programs will continue from home, as it is now, until the end of summer. Same for digital,” Zucker remarked.

Chris Cuomo (R) and wife Cristina Greeven Cuomo, Chris Cuomo attend Stand Up For Heros presented by the New York Comedy Festival and the Bob Woodruff Foundation at The Beacon Theatre in New York City on Nov. 3, 2010. Mike Coppola/Getty Images

He said that any return would include a phased approach.

“We will not be returning to the office in any significant way any time soon,” he added. “We will phase back in very slowly, with emphasis in the beginning on roles that are directly related to keeping the CNN US network on the air, as well as newsgathering. As a result, for the majority of you, across all of our networks and platforms, return to the office will not happen in any significant way before the end of the summer.”

Several high-profile CNN employees, including anchors Chris Cuomo, Brooke Baldwin, and Richard Quest have contracted the CCP virus, a novel coronavirus that originated in China last year that causes COVID-19.

Cuomo was released from quarantine earlier in the week. Baldwin and Quest have reportedly experienced only minor symptoms.

The 14-year-old son of Cuomo, Mario, tested positive for COVID-19, according to his wife Cristina, who was also diagnosed with the virus, according to an Instagram post.

“This virus has created a different version of me. My hope is to be stronger, healthier, smarter about the virus at large. After 10 days of ups and downs, feeling good one-day and terrible the next, I am now working toward getting my son, Mario, through the virus. My heart hurts more than my head over his infection,” she wrote.