(Bloomberg) -- Jefferies Financial Group Inc. asked staffers to work from home after the Wall Street firm saw a rise in Covid cases among its workforce. 

Employees should consider working remotely for the rest of the month, according to a memo by Chief Executive Officer Rich Handler. The moves come after the company has experienced nearly 40 new cases of Covid since the start of the month. Jefferies had been operating at 60% attendance globally in recent weeks.

“Yesterday alone we had 10 additional cases and, as a result of those cases, nearly 50 people will have to be quarantined until they test negative,” Handler said in the memo, noting that more than 95% of Jefferies employees are vaccinated. “With only a very few exceptions, most of our new cases have not required hospitalization.” 

The firm is reimposing a mask mandate in all of its offices, he said in the memo, which he also shared on his Instagram. Additionally, all social events and entertainment will be canceled until at least Jan. 3, he said. A spokesman for the investment bank didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

“We are also requiring everyone who wants to enter any of our offices or attend an event to have their booster administered by Jan. 31, unless they are not yet eligible to do so,” Handler said.

Jefferies was one of the first major banks to require vaccines for staffers who wished to return to the office. The firm said last year that Peg Broadbent, the longtime chief financial officer of its main subsidiary, died from complications tied to coronavirus, marking one of the first deaths among senior Wall Street executives from the pandemic.  

Handler also asked staffers to quickly and properly communicate compensation decisions this month, urging managers to avoid “games or drawn-out drama like many of our competitors seem to enjoy.” 

“We strongly believe we are much closer to the end of this mess than the beginning and, thanks to all of you, we have achieved incredible success,” Handler said. “Let’s all be smart, safe, support each other, and continue what we have worked so hard to accomplish thus far into the pandemic.” 

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