Facebook’s Arbor Blocks office in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Nat Levy)

Facebook, which operates a large engineering outpost in Seattle, said today that it will allow employees to work from home until July 2021 as COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the U.S.

It’s the latest tech company to alter its work from home policy. Last month, Amazon — Seattle’s largest tech employer — said it was extending its work from home policy for employees through Jan. 8, 2021. Meanwhile, Zillow Group will allow 90% of its workforce — more than 2,700 in Seattle alone — to work remotely, at least part of the time, indefinitely.

Just last year, Facebook started moving employees into a new Seattle building called Arbor Blocks 300, which was the first in a two-structure complex designed to house 2,000 employees in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood.

Last September, GeekWire reported that Facebook employed more than 5,000 people at various buildings in the Seattle area. A month prior to that report, Facebook inked a lease for a 200,000 square foot space in Bellevue’s Spring District, adding to the 338,000 square foot building it had leased in the development.

A Facebook spokeswoman tells CNET that the company made the decision “based on guidance from health and government experts” and “internal discussions.” Facebook employed 52,534 people as of June 30.

As GeekWire reported earlier today, the absence of large tech employers in downtown Seattle is causing a crisis for many small business owners who rely on office workers to purchase lunch, drinks and other services.

Previously on GeekWire: ‘How long can we hold on?’ As Zillow workers stay remote, businesses near Seattle HQ fight to survive

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