| Hi all, it's Priya. The vaccinations are coming. This week, several counties in and around Silicon Valley—including San Francisco—opened up Covid-19 vaccine eligibility to people over 16. And starting on Thursday, anyone in California who can find an appointment will be able to get a dose. What comes next will be a slow return to life for tech's biggest offices. In May, Salesforce.com Inc. will reopen its namesake tower in San Francisco, the company said this week, starting with volunteer groups of 100 or fewer vaccinated employees per floor. Next month, Facebook Inc. will open up at 10% capacity. And there are already people trickling back into the offices of Apple Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s Redmond, Washington, headquarters. Large tech companies were among the first to ask employees to work from home, leading the remote work charge for the rest of corporate America. Now, their reopening plans may offer a preview of post-pandemic office life. On Monday, Salesforce laid out its rules for the returning staff. For those who volunteer to come back, the company said it would require Covid testing twice a week. Employees will be asked to complete daily "health attestations" and will find plexiglass between desks, air purifiers in conference rooms and lots of hand sanitizer. The offices will reopen gradually, moving from 20% to 75% capacity over time, based on guidance from local officials and virus data. Only later will Salesforce Tower get back to full capacity, and even that will look different post-pandemic. Through the end of the year, employees will be able to work remotely if they want to. And in its announcement of the plan, Salesforce said, "While our offices will remain an important part of our strategy as we reopen, the office is no longer at the center of our work day." Many large tech companies anticipate a lingering, if not a permanent, change. On Wednesday, Uber said starting in September, it would require employees to come into the office only three days a week. At Facebook, staff will be allowed to stay remote until a month after their local office returns to half capacity. And in a decade, Mark Zuckerberg said about half of workers could be fully remote—though those who do want to work from home will need approval and could see a pay cut when their compensation is adjusted based on their new location. Despite all the early pandemic talk about the glories of remote work, the intricate return-to-office plans show that a year later, bosses still want employees in the same building. That's good news for the local Bay Area businesses that depend on a daily influx of tech workers to survive. Many coffee shops and lunch joints near Salesforce Tower, the tallest building in the city, have large locks on their doors. Near-empty Muni buses wait dutifully at their stops, doors open, for nobody to hop on. The scene might change in a few weeks. "People, now that they're getting vaccinated, we can see that there's an excitement already," said Kais Bouzidi, the owner of Barcha, a Mediterranean restaurant about a block away from Salesforce. Bouzidi said business was down 80% last year, but he's now planning to bring back some of the staff he had to let go. Barcha will bring back lunch soon, try opening all seven days of the week to capitalize on any potential jumps in business and then assess whether enough people are actually back at the office to keep his restaurant humming. Peering through the Salesforce Tower's glass walls, you can see a sign welcoming people back and reminding them to wear face coverings, be mindful of keeping a 6-foot distance from others and that guests aren't allowed right now. The lobby floor is dotted with blue stickers that ask people to "MAINTAIN PHYSICAL DISTANCE." It's a reminder that as tantalizingly close as normal feels, things are still going to be weird for a while. —Priya Anand | 
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