Goldman Sachs : Netflix Ramp Up Covid-19 Testing for Workers

By Jared S. Hopkins, Sarah Krouse and Liz Hoffman

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans to test workers reporting to its New York offices for Covid-19 more frequently than it has throughout the pandemic. Netflix Inc. is adding more rapid testing to quickly clear the cast and crews of its TV shows.

Eager to safely get employees back to in-person work before vaccines are widely available, companies from Hollywood to Wall Street are embracing regular, sometimes daily, testing -- regardless of whether workers feel sick.

Behind both Goldman's and Netflix's efforts is CVS Health Corp., which will provide on-site tests with results available in minutes, people familiar with the matter said. The two companies join Delta Air Lines Inc. and others that have already been using CVS's corporate-concierge program.

It is one of many back-to-work testing programs offered by pharmacies, labs and medical consultancies as employers try to bring workers safely back to offices, trading floors and movie sets. Alongside their social-distancing protocols and mask rules, employers are screening workers more regularly to catch those who don't show symptoms yet but might carry the virus.

The testing is a bridge until vaccines are available to the general public, companies say. Doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and Germany's BioNTech SE are limited for now and prioritized for health-care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. Inoculations for the general public could come in the spring or summer, health officials say.

Workplace Covid-19 tests are typically covered by employers and cost anywhere from $15 to more than $100 apiece depending on the type of test used and the frequency of screenings.

Goldman, whose CEO, David Solomon, has continued going into headquarters throughout the pandemic and has stressed the importance of office culture, had already converted a corner of the lobby for on-site testing. The deal with CVS -- a big client of the investment bank -- will expand that effort in the hopes of bringing as many as 2,000 additional traders and bankers back to its New York office in January, people familiar with the matter said.

In normal times about 8,000 employees report to Goldman's New York headquarters. About 1,000 have been coming in on an average day this fall, with temperature checks at the door and floor markings in the corners of elevators indicating where people should stand.

Under a deal reached in recent days, bank employees would receive a CVS-administered rapid test that delivers results in 12 minutes while they wait to enter. It was developed by LumiraDX UK Ltd., a diagnostics company that some other CVS clients have used that counts Troy Brennan, CVS's chief medical officer, among its board members. The firm began working with CVS in September, a LumiraDX spokeswoman said.

A CVS spokesman said there has been significant demand for its service and that it chooses testing products based on client needs. Larry Merlo, the company's chief executive, told investors last month that the program had enlisted more than 70 clients since launching in June.

Netflix has tapped CVS to perform some of its point-of-care testing at production sites, according to people familiar with the matter. The arrangement doesn't currently cover Netflix office employees, they say.

CVS and Delta in August announced a partnership for testing of flight crews at staff lounges of Delta hubs, part of an employee-testing strategy that has expanded to include voluntary weekly testing.

Verizon Communications Inc., which also recently joined the CVS program, now offers free testing at CVS stores to its staff after a surge in demand for testing ahead of Thanksgiving limited some workers' access to tests, the carrier's human-resources chief told staff this month. Office workers at the company are split into groups permitted to work in the office on a rotating basis, though executives have encouraged them to work from home when possible as cases rise nationwide.

HR executives say many workers become infected with the virus at social gatherings, not at the office, but they are starting to offer free testing as a wellness benefit, regardless of whether workers are physically returning to the office. Such testing also helps catch infected people early and may help limit the virus's spread to other members of their households.

Google this month began offering free at-home testing to its 90,000 U.S. employees and recommended that each worker be tested weekly, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Financial-services company TIAA also said it is offering free, at-home Covid-19 testing for its employees and dependents who are covered under a company medical plan.

Some states including New Mexico have recently passed rules that require retailers to regularly test thousands of public-facing workers or risk having to shut down facilities when employees become infected. Such rules have led large employers like Walmart Inc. to seek low-cost testing, in some cases placing large orders with test makers directly or backing emerging testing technology.

--Joe Flint and Alison Sider contributed to this article.

Write to Jared S. Hopkins at [e-mail], Sarah Krouse at [e-mail] and Liz Hoffman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-20-20 0914ET