2 more cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Wells Fargo workers at Charlotte campus
Two more cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in workers at Wells Fargo’s massive Customer Information Center, or CIC, in north Charlotte, the bank disclosed Thursday. That brings the total number of CIC workers reported to have had the disease caused by the new coronavirus to four.
The bank learned of the two new cases this week, according to spokesman Josh Dunn. One of the employees with a new case was last in the office on March 28 and the other was last in on April 6.
“We have performed enhanced cleaning at the location multiple times, and we have asked employees who have been in close proximity with the affected employees to not come into the office in accordance with public health guidance,” Dunn said.
The new cases come as thousands of workers continue to make their daily commutes to the office, which houses a number of the bank’s call center workers.
Those workers, deemed “essential,” have been caught in the middle of a tricky dilemma: with millions of new unemployed workers, banks are swarmed with customers who need urgent financial help. Yet, as call center jobs are typically done in physical offices, many workers are apprehensive to be on a campus with thousands of others, even if they’re socially distanced.
Of the four total infections, two were in workers in the campus’s first building, and one each in second and third buildings. The bank doesn’t believe any of the new infections occurred on the campus, Dunn said.
The CIC typically houses 9,000 workers, 35% of whom still go in to the office, the bank said this month.
With 27,000 employees in the Charlotte area, Wells is one of the region’s largest employers. That is, in part, a legacy of the bank’s 2008 acquisition of Wachovia, who used the CIC before being bought by the San Francisco-based bank. The campus was built in 1995 for First Union.
Two infections were also reported this month at a Wells campus in Raleigh. The bank has a pilot program for some call center jobs to be done from home, a bank executive told the Observer this month.
There are 861 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg County as of Thursday, with 10 deaths.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 2:07 PM.