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(Reuters) -Oreo cookies maker Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) has postponed the planned reopening of its global headquarters in Chicago as the Omicron coronavirus variant fuels “concern and uncertainty”, a company spokesperson said.
The company, which also makes Ritz crackers and Trident chewing gum, had earlier planned to fully reopen its headquarters in West Fulton Market, Chicago, on Jan. 10.
However, “with COVID-19 transmission rates once again rising, and the Omicron variant adding additional concern and uncertainty, we have postponed the planned reopening of our Fulton Market location,” spokesperson Tracey Noe said.
Mondelez joins a growing list of companies rethinking their plans to return to business-as-usual amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in the United States, with the fast-spreading Omicron variant becoming dominant.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday more federal vaccination and testing sites to tackle the surge and said 500 million free at-home rapid tests would be available to Americans starting in January.
Mondelez said its headquarters would remain open to fully vaccinated employees on a voluntary basis, with plans for a full reopening to be announced at a later date.
The company requires employees at its offices in Chicago, Miami and East Hanover, New Jersey to be fully vaccinated as a condition of employment.
In 2019, Mondelez announced https:// it was shifting its global headquarters from Deerfield, Illinois to Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood, which also hosts the headquarters of fast food giant McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) and regional offices of tech giant Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) close by.
At the time, Mondelez said it would relocate about 400 employees to the new headquarters in April 2020. It wasn’t immediately clear how many employees currently work at the location.
