A coronavirus case reportedly sent JPMorgan bankers home with less than a week before even more employees are set to return to the office

• JPMorgan sent an undisclosed number of employees home Tuesday after discovering a positive Covid-19 case among its ranks, according to a recent Bloomberg News report.
• A spokesperson told the publication that the bank is “managing individual cases across the firm over the course of the last few months and following appropriate protocols when they occur.”
• CEO Jamie Dimon has repeatedly expressed the need for in-person collaboration in recent weeks.

With less than a week before many senior sales and trading staffers return to its Manhattan headquarters, JPMorgan on Tuesday sent some employees home after one tested positive for COVID-19.

According to Bloomberg News, the case in question was within the bank's equities trading division. Employees were told about the infection on Sunday, according to an unnamed source who spoke with Bloomberg.

A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment on the specific case, telling Bloomberg it's "managing individual cases across the firm over the course of the last few months and following appropriate protocols when they occur."

Read more: Wall Street is starting to get back to work. Here are the latest return-to-office plans for 5 firms, including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.

When JPMorgan, the US' largest bank by assets, originally announced plans to bring back many staffers this month, President Donald Trump praised the move.

"Congratulations to JPMorgan Chase for ordering everyone BACK TO OFFICE on September 21st.," he tweeted on September 11. "Will always be better than working from home!"

—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2020

CEO Jamie Dimon has echoed that sentiment in public and private conversations this week, even as many of the bank's Wall Street competitors have embraced remote work for the long-term.

"Going back to work is a good thing," he told a virtual panel at the Singapore Summit on Tuesday, adding that governments should "carefully open up and see if we can get the economy growing for the sake of everybody."

Dimon also told an analyst last week that productivity was slipping on Mondays and Fridays as employees worked from home.