Humana issues new guidance on its return-to-office plans

Humana Inc. will again delay its mass office re-entry plans over concerns about the rampant Covid-19 Delta variant.

In August, Humana announced that its Labor Day office re-entry date would be pushed back to Oct. 18. On Thursday, Humana announced that it will delay re-entry until at least Jan. 14, 2022.

The Louisville-based government health plan and health care provider will also push the deadline for employees to get vaccinated to Jan. 14 as well. Humana announced in August that it will require three categories that appear to impact most employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus or be subjected to regular testing and other Covid-19 mitigation efforts.

The delay to get vaccinated is needed to “allow for more time to understand the implications of the Biden administration’s vaccine plan introduced last week,” according to an email from Humana’s Corporate and Finance Communications Director Mark Taylor.

The to-be-formulated federal rules from the Biden administration will apparently mandate that companies with more than 100 employees require workers to get regular Covid tests. Employees can be exempted from regular testing by getting vaccinated.

“As infections and hospitalizations caused by the Covid-19 Delta variant continue to rise at alarming rates, and with many of our employees expressing their concern over returning to the office during this surge, we continue to take action to protect the health and safety of our associates, members and communities,” Taylor said.

Humana employs about 12,500 people in the Louisville area and about 50,200 in total, according to previous Louisville Business First research.

At a national level, new Covid-19 cases and deaths have reached levels previously seen in the fall last year with deaths increasing by 37% over the last two weeks, according to the New York Times.

Data from the state shows that about 71% of adults have been vaccinated and that 59% of the total population has been vaccinated. Other state data show that about 2,500 Kentuckians are hospitalized with Covid-19 and that about 91% of all intensive care unit beds are presently occupied.

The daily rolling weekly average of new cases is at the worst level it’s ever been in Kentucky. As of Wednesday, the state reported a statewide rate of spread of 88.7 per 100,000 residents.