Fox News targets early May for employees to return to work

Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said Friday that the outlet is considering May 4 as a “target date” for employees currently working remotely to return to work.

Scott emphasized in a conference call and a memo to staff that the date could change because the coronavirus pandemic “is an evolving & changing crisis,” a source who was on the Friday morning call told The Hill.

“I’m using the word ‘target’ because as we all know this is an evolving & changing crisis. Sometimes by the day and some days by the hour,” Scott said on the call, according to the source.

Fox News will be “distributing thermometers to the essential workforce” at its Manhattan headquarters and all bureaus across the country that don’t have them, Scott also wrote in a companywide memo.

“Please know that we are following all [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines for the work environment incorporating all necessary social/physical distancing across every area including control rooms, limiting interaction as much as possible and sanitizing all areas of the building,” Scott noted in the memo.

“We ask that everyone coming into our buildings please take your temperature each morning before coming to work — on the advice of several doctors we have been in constant consultation with,” the memo added.

Scott and Fox News president and executive editor Jay Wallace said that they have continued to go to the network’s Manhattan headquarters throughout the coronavirus crisis.

New York City has become the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., forcing all networks and news organizations to instruct most of their employees to work from home to adhere to social distancing guidelines and out of an abundance of caution.

“Our dedication to the audience and the ultimate public service we are providing to our viewers remains our most important job each day and we appreciate your immense efforts in delivering best in class news and analysis as we continue to work through these unprecedented times,” Scott wrote.

“We will get through this together and please know how truly grateful I am for this extraordinary team,” she added.

The memo comes one day after the network co-hosted a virtual town hall with Facebook that included coronavirus task force members Deborah Birx and Surgeon General Jerome Adams.

Facebook and Fox News also announced they would make a joint $1 million donation to Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund, a charity that supports food banks across country during the coronavirus crisis.