Super Spreader Fears as COVID-19 Hits BT UK CEO Philip Jansen

Something like this had to happen eventually. BT Group has confirmed that their CEO, Philip Jansen, tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday and has followed the Public Health England protocols to self-isolate. The telecoms chief recently met with the UK Culture Secretary (Oliver Dowden) and leaders of O2, Vodafone and Three UK.

As you’d expect, Jansen’s office and other parts of the BT Group HQ are currently working with PHE to undertake a “full deep clean” of relevant areas, while also ensuring that any employees who may have had contact with the CEO are informed about the situation.

On top of that he has also informed those he recently met, including the bosses of the aforementioned mobile operators and the Culture Secretary. At this stage it’s unclear if any of those people have been tested for the virus or gone into self-isolation until they know the outcome.

According to some research, symptoms of the virus could appear as soon as three days after exposure to as long as 13 days later, which creates a worryingly wide window for the contagion to spread before people become aware. At this stage it’s unclear if BT’s CEO was continuing to shake hands or had already been adopting distancing measures and different forms of greeting than a handshake.

Philip Jansen said:

“Having felt slightly unwell I decided as a precaution to be tested. As soon as the test results were known I isolated myself at home.

I’ve met several industry partners this week so felt it was the responsible thing to do to alert them to this fact as soon as I could.

Given my symptoms seem relatively mild, I will continue to lead BT but work with my team remotely over the coming week. There will be no disruption to the business.”

Naturally we wish Philip a speedy recovery and hopefully his case will serve as a reminder of the need to do things differently for awhile. We are not in normal times.