Juul moving HQ from ‘inhospitable’ S.F. home to D.C.

Troubled ecigarette maker Juul plans to move its headquarters from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., becoming the latest in a wave of corporate departures.

The news, first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Monday, was confirmed to The Chronicle by a source familiar with the company’s plans, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. The person was granted anonymity in accordance with The Chronicle’s anonymous source policy.

Juul, which has around 3,000 global employees, plans to retain a presence in San Francisco, but could close some offices, the Journal reported. Juul is contemplating layoffs of up to 950 workers as

San Francisco is now making making free COVID19 tests available to any worker who must leave their home and interact with the public — diminishing or eliminating their ability to practice social distancing — while on the job, regardless of whether they present symptoms of a coronavirus infection.

The new testing policy, announced by Mayor London Breed and Public Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax on Monday, represents the city’s latest expansion of testing efforts. Free tests had previously been available only to “essential” employees working in San Francisco during the pandemic, like health care professionals, grocery clerks and restaurant cooks, who exhibited symptoms of a coronavirus infection.

Now, anyone working in San Francisco who can’t do their job from home — including those employed at places like plant nurseries and car washes that can conduct businesses outdoors, who were permitted to return to their jobs Monday — is eligible for a free COVID19 test at a city testing site without a doctor’s note.

Workers unable to perform their jobs at home “continue to show up every day, often at great personal risk, and I am so grateful to them,” Breed said in a statement.

“Now that we have our testing program established and are certain that we can test everyone with symptoms, I want to extend to them the opportunity to get tested more easily — for peace of mind and to take action if needed to protect themselves and their families.”

Testing capacity has been gradually expanding in San Francisco, making it possible to perform COVID19 tests on broader populations, including those showing no signs of illness, since the virus can be transmitted by asymptomatic people. The city eventually hopes to make tests universally available.

“We focused first on people with symptoms — in outbreaks, vulnerable populations, case contact investigations and among essential workers,” Colfax said in a statement. “As the circle keeps widening, we now can test more people without symptoms, including close contacts, residents and staff of skilled nursing facilities and essential workers.”

The free tests will be administered at San Francisco’s CityTestSF sites — at Piers 3032 on the Embarcadero and South of Market at 600 Seventh Street — and at the health department’s community testing sites at Southeast Health Center in the Bayview, CastroMission Health Center in the Castro, Maxine Hall Health Center in the Western Addition and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in the Mission.

Eligible workers seeking a COVID19 test can set up an appointment through San Francisco’s CityTestSF website or through their health care providers.