Most people are aware that Social Security offices across the country remain closed during the Coronavirus outbreak with no news of when Social Security might open for business again. Social Security has not closed down completely, Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) are still conducting disability hearings via phone, and Social Security is still assisting customers by phone and Social Security’s online services remain available, but at some point Social Security will open its offices again, but predicting when is an impossible proposition.
Each state’s governor is in charge of deciding when to open businesses and services to the public, so it is likely that Social Security would rely on guidance from governors as to when to open up offices in each particular state, but returning to normal, or the way things were before the Coronavirus outbreak, are probably not going to happen for quite some time.
Each state has its own stay-at-home orders, which are set to expire at different times, but even when the stay-at-home orders are over, and if they are not extended, the opening of all things will not look like things used to be. The social distancing guidelines will likely be in place for a long time and will prevent Social Security offices from allowing too many people in its offices at one time. Additionally, Social Security will likely allow many of its employees to continue to work from home at least a few days a week to limit staff levels in agency offices, but the important thing to remember is there is no vaccine for the Coronavirus and health experts have said there is really no way to lift all restrictions until there is a way to eradicate the virus.
Eventually Social Security offices will open in some capacity, but with limited staff and offices likely to limit the number of customers in the building at one time, expect even further delays when visiting a Social Security office.
