- None of those infected had a serious case of the virus, sources tell Insider.
- The incident comes as Uber grapples with its return-to-office plan.
- Unlike some other companies, Uber has not required vaccination for returning employees.
A person who attended a recent in-person Uber board meeting at the company's San Francisco headquarters tested positive for COVID-19, according to people familiar with the matter.
That attendee, who was not a board member, later infected several other employees at the company, the people familiar said. They asked not to be identified discussing private medical information.
There were only two directors physically present during the board meeting, which took place in recent weeks, and both later tested negative. The Uber employees who did get infected suffered mild cases of the disease, said one of the people familiar with the incident.
The episode highlights the now-urgent question about whether Uber will require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when they return to the office later this year. It also spotlights a new concern circling around corner offices: whether to resume in-person board meetings after the pandemic turned these crucial gatherings into remote events last March.
Uber has been reluctant to require that employees get vaccinated. The head of HR, Nikki Krishnamurthy, along with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi have said they'll look to guidance from local heath experts to determine their COVID-19 policies. Meanwhile, Google and Facebook said on Wednesday that vaccinations would be mandatory for returning employees, prompted by the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. That may put pressure on Uber, one of the largest employers in San Francisco, to follow suit.
At an all-hands meeting early this week Khosrowshahi said the company was not going to make employees come back if they did not believe it was safe.
A spokesperson for Uber declined to comment.
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