While many Silicon Valley companies are playing hardball when it comes to getting workers back to the office, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is telling workers in San Francisco to stay home indefinitely.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports the stay-at-home recommendation was issued on Aug. 4, as a result of safety concerns for workers at the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building downtown. The area has become one that’s frequented by drug dealers and users on a regular basis.
“In light of the conditions at the [federal building], we recommend employees…maximize the use of telework for the foreseeable future,” HHS Assistant Secretary for Administration Cheryl R. Campbell wrote in a memo.
It’s unclear if other federal divisions at the building issued similar guidance to their employees. The memo was issued the same day that the White House called for more employees to return to their desks in the coming weeks.
At about the same time the memo was sent, Rep. Nancy Pelosi herself met with the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California to express concerns over the safety of workers at the building. (Pelosi’s staff has not been advised to work remotely, the Chronicle reported.)
The federal building is protected by the Federal Protective Service, which coordinated with San Francisco police. Despite that, the area is littered with dealers, and drug users congregate (and use the product they buy) on the concrete benches along the property.
San Francisco’s downtown/central business district is more depressed than nearly all others post-pandemic—and some economists fear it’s in the beginning of a “doom loop,” with empty office buildings and crime prompting further absences and greater levels of crime. Uniqlo, Nordstrom Rack, and Anthropologie have all closed their locations, and many local business have shut down. And crime is up. Shampoo, toothpaste, and other toiletries are locked up at downtown pharmacies. And armed robbers recently hit a Gucci store in broad daylight.