Working From Home to Avoid Coronavirus Is Great. Except Most of Us Can't Do It.

Coronavirus is encouraging more U.S. companies to permit employees to work from home to avoid community spread. Guidance to do so has come from the upper echelons at corporate giants including Twitter, Microsoft and Amazon.

But the option may not be an option at all for a lot of us.

Just 29% of the U.S. workforce can do their jobs from home, about 42 million Americans among 144 million workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Over 70% of Americans -- think manufacturing and the service industry, including mall and restaurant employees -- must report to work. Also, per Bloomberg, about one-quarter of American workers do not get paid time off to stay away from those jobs that need you to be there in person.

"There isn't a tele-burger, and there isn't a tele-Amazon either," co-director of Family Values @ Work's Ellen Bravo told Bloomberg. "There's human beings who deliver those packages."

Bravo advocates for state and local paid time off as the U.S. is one of the only countries in the world that does not require paid sick leave.

With coronavirus detected in more than a dozen U.S. states and the domestic death toll rising, sending workers home should be a logical next step, said Scott Ream, chair of the Association of Continuity Professionals, a 1,700-member organization of business professionals that advises companies on how to operate in a time of crisis.

"If an organization is able to have people work from home, then obviously that's the no-brainer," said Ream, who also operates his own business-continuity company. "The ACP recommends that if you are able to execute a work-from-home contingency plan you should be, if not invoking it now, making sure that all the things that you will need to be in place to invoke it are ready to go."

The outbreak has escalated in just a few days in the U.S. As more reported cases spread from Washington to New York and New Jersey -- some 3,000 people may be under quarantine now in New York City alone -- the question of whether and when to send workers home has become more urgent.

Companies in Washington state — the most hard-hit so far with 10 deaths from the virus in a long-term care facility — have already started to do so, responding to local health department recommendations. Seattle is home to Amazon, Microsoft and retailer Nordstrom, which have all encouraged office workers who have the ability to work from home or telecommute to do so.

Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google, both based in California, have also told some employees to work remotely. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has tested its capacity to shift workers home and is sending hundreds of its New York and London sales and trading staff to backup locations to reduce disruptions.

"The best practice is to have a work from home day, for everyone who is capable of it," Ream said. "This is your stress test."

The ability to work from home looks like it might break along educational and racial divides, too, as only 3% of workers who did not graduate high school have the ability to work from home – while nearly 50% with at least a bachelor's degree can, according to BLS.

Also, just 20% of blacks, 16% of Hispanic and Latinos have jobs that permit working from home.

"As so often is the case, this public health threat will have hidden and higher costs for low-wage workers," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Tuesday, per Bloomberg. "When those people's basics needs aren't met, they cannot make choices to protect themselves, which means they can't make choices that best protect others, too."

Information from Bloomberg News was used in this report.