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A person who was inside the city's 40-story-tall Wells Fargo Center has tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine to close its Portland office, which is headquartered inside the building.
"This is a profoundly sad and very anxious time. Davis Wright Tremaine is more than a workplace—it's a community," Jeff Gray, managing partner with Davis Wright Tremaine, said in a statement given to WW.
"Yesterday, we were also told of a confirmed case of an individual, not from our firm but in the building where our Portland office is located, who has tested positive for COVID-19," Gray writes. "Therefore, we have also decided to close our Portland office and have asked everyone in that office to work remotely today while it is deep cleaned."
The Wells Fargo Center is Portland's tallest building and a hub of downtown commerce. Davis Wright Tremaine, a white-shoe law firm, is among its most prominent tenants.
"We have no comment," said Rocio Ornelas, senior property manager for Lincoln Property Group, which oversees the building.
The Portland Business Journal first reported the news Friday afternoon. It's not clear whether the person who was inside the Wells Fargo Center is one of the 30 previously announced Oregon cases or a new case.
To date, the Oregon Health Authority says 30 people statewide have tested positive for COVID-19. Authorities at a press conference yesterday said they suspect upwards of 250 people statewide to be infected with the virus, though the state has the capacity to test just 40 a day.
The decision to close may show an an abudence of caution by Davis Wright Tremaine, following the unexpected death of a 60-year-old executive legal assistant at the company's Bellevue, Wash. headquarters.
The employee left the office on Tuesday with flu-like symptoms, Gray said in a statement, and was found dead in her home Thursday morning. It is unclear if her death was related to COVID-19.
"Since we do not yet know the cause of her death, in the interest of the health and well-being of all our employees, we are closing our Bellevue and Seattle offices until further notice and have asked everyone in those offices to work remotely," Gray said in the statement.