Verizon: Ten employees have COVID-19

Verizon executives said that ten of the company's employees have the coronavirus, and that Verizon has so far shut down 500 of its corporate-owned retail stores to stop the spread of the virus.

"We have ten confirmed employees who have coronavirus, contracted it around the world," Verizon HR chief Christy Pambianchi said in a video message to employees. "They are obviously quarantined, and we're helping support them in their time of medical need. And then we have also been notifying any co-workers in the facilities and then we're remediating those facilities. Many of the facilities have already moved to a work-at-home model so that's a really positive thing and the containment strategy to help curtail the spread of coronavirus."

According to the CDC, there are a total of around 15,000 COVID-19 cases around the US now.

Verizon officials also said that around 100,000 of their employees are now working from home. The company counted 135,000 total employees at the end of 2019.

Verizon warned Tuesday in an SEC filing that the outbreak of COVID-19 could have a "material" impact on its financial and operational results. In its own SEC filing Friday, AT&T joined Verizon in warning of the effects of the virus: "The impacts of the pandemic could be material, but due to the evolving nature of this situation, we are not able at this time to estimate the impact on our financial or operational results." AT&T added it would halt a planned stock buyback.

Already T-Mobile closed 80% of its retail stores, Sprint closed 71% of its own retail stores and AT&T closed 40%, or 2,200 stores.

— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano