As the Delta variant spreads and offices delay their return plans, desk workers ask: Should we ever go back? Then: Here’s what the Ohio special election actually means for Democrats.

The Remote-Work Experiment

(Lars Tunbjörk / Agence VU / Redu​x)

For many American businesses, the pandemic sparked an accidental experiment: What happens to work when you remove the physical office?

Now, the results are in, argues Ed Zitron, who has run a remote company since 2013: “For the tens of millions of us who spend most of our days sitting at a computer, the pandemic proved that remote work is just work.”

Managers who once balked at the idea of permanent remote work are now faced with “the tangible proof of their still-standing business,” Zitron writes. As the Delta variant derails many companies’ return-to-office plans, and makes in-person work riskier for certain groups, the big question remains: Should you ever go back to the office?

Here are a few things to consider.

• Remote work empowers the people who actually do the work. “It removes the ability to seem productive (by sitting at your desk looking stressed or always being on the phone), and also, crucially, may reveal how many bosses and managers simply don’t contribute to the bottom line,” Zitron writes.

• The work-from-home revolution will have winners and losers. Derek Thompson reports that high-income workers at highly profitable companies will come out on top. Downtown landlords? Not so much.

• Younger and less-established workers could have a tougher time. “New hires and young people who work remotely risk remaining unknown quantities,” Amanda Mull noted last year. “And unknown quantities don’t become beloved colleagues, or get promoted.”

Further reading: Companies want remote workers in all states but one, Saahil Desai reports.

(Michael M. Santiago / Getty)

The news in three sentences:

(1) The World Health Organization called for a moratorium on booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines through at least September. (2) Three New York prosecutors announced investigations into Governor Andrew Cuomo. (3) A former co-chair for Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign lost Ohio’s special congressional primary election—but the race isn’t a bellwether for progressives.

What to read if … you’re looking for practical advice on how to manage your risk in light of Delta:

• If you’re vaccinated, your risk of a symptomatic breakthrough case remains very low. And if you do get COVID-19, your immune system is better prepared to handle an infection than it would have been without the vaccine.

• The CDC now recommends fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in communities with “substantial or high transmission.” See if that applies to you.   

• Should you take additional precautions? It depends. Our staff writer Katherine J. Wu recommends checking local virus conditions like the weather every day.

Tonight’s Atlantic-approved activity:

Read a poem. We loved “The Theater,” by Jana Prikryl.

A break from the news:

For generations, American shoppers have been trained to be nightmares, Amanda Mull writes. The pandemic has exposed how bad the situation has become.

The Atlantic Crossword

12-Across, seven letters: Villain spotted in a 2021 live-action Disney adaptation?

Try your hand at our daily mini crossword (available on our site here), which gets more challenging through the week.

→ Challenge your friends, or try to beat your own solving time.

About Us

Thanks for reading. This email was written by Isabel Fattal, with help from Lora Strum. Our regular writer, Caroline Mimbs Nyce, is off this week.

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