Or at the very least, an interview conducted outside? What would be the best way to phrase such a request? I'm gonna make a few phone calls Monday to follow up on some job applications.
I don't think you have to worry about it. You're not their only candidate and if they're not conscious of all the strangers they're seeing you shouldn't work there. I went through 280 resumes two months ago. That generated maybe 20 interviews for my wife, all of which were Zoom/phone. If that interview went well, we had an in-person interview with the whole team, or as many as were in the office and not doing telemedicine (we've had everyone in the office exactly once since February). If I recall correctly, we had three in-person interviews.
I would say just be careful. There are a number of elaborate scams going on of people impersonating large companies on job search websites (Indeed especially). They'll usually call or text, get you to send a bunch of information, and run you through an interview process before trying to pull the fake cheque trick. Every interview I had was in-person, wearing a mask.
Most of my apps are to gigs with “temporarily remote” status. All interviews I’ve done thus far are over phone or video call. Also, KB brings up a good opening point. It’s absolutely a reasonable request. Remember, you’re interviewing the employer as much as they are interviewing you. If they aren’t willing to accommodate for a global health concern, that gives pause for reconsideration. Especially if denied a remote interview after you make a direct request. A piece of advice I received recently for job negotiation is “You get what you bargain for, not what you deserve.” So, you can’t bargain for much if you don’t set a standard of what to expect. In this case, you’d be expecting an interview process that minimizes risk to your health.