Newmark hires nurse to screen visitors, employee tests positive for Coronavirus

UPDATED, March 12, 2020, 1:25 p.m.: Newmark Knight Frank is taking steps to screen visitors at its Park Avenue office — and one of its employees has since tested positive for coronavirus.

The commercial brokerage and real estate services firm on Monday stationed a nurse in the reception area to screen guests. The nurse has been asking guests questions about their physical movements, assessing their general appearance and taking their temperature, according to Crain’s.

On Tuesday, an employee at the 125 Park Avenue office tested positive for the virus — one of more than 1,200 confirmed cases in the U.S.

“We rolled out a responsive plan to ensure the health and safety of our employees and our clients,” said Newmark spokesperson Brandon Levesque.

Some employees at the firm told Crain’s that they planned to work from home this week, as fear of transmission spreads.

Several major companies have instructed staff to work from home going forward, either as a precautionary measure or in response to reported cases on their premises.

SL Green Realty, which also has an office at 125 Park Avenue, confirmed this week that two workers in two of its other office buildings, at 1185 Sixth Avenue and 100 Church Street, also tested positive for the virus.

“At 1185 Avenue of the Americas, an employee of one tenant had elected to self-quarantine after being exposed to an infected individual several days before testing positive,” CEO Edward Piccinich wrote in a statement to The Real Deal. “Localized cleaning was conducted immediately and was followed by a full floor decontamination. All tenant accessible areas of the building were also remediated.”

[Crain’s] — Sylvia Varnham O’Regan

Correction: Due to an error in the source article, this article previously stated that Newmark retained the nurse after an employee tested positive for coronavirus. The nurse was brought on beforehand.