Microsoft in a public bulletin recommended all employees in the King County area to work from home if their job allows for it through March 25. Those who are pregnant, have a compromised immune system, have an underlying health condition or are over 60 should also avoid interaction in large groups or public settings, Microsoft added.
Amazon this week confirmed that one of its Seattle-area employees tested positive for the coronavirus. A spokesperson for the e-commerce giant told CNN that they are recommending that employees in Seattle and Bellevue who are able to work from home do so through the end of March.
Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, asked some employees to start working from home this week. He conceded that it isn’t a “complete” solution but noted that it may help slow the growth of infections.
Twitter also strongly encouraged all employees globally to work from home if they are able to. Telecommuting will be mandatory from those based in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea due in part to government restrictions, the microblogging platform added.
LinkedIn is informing job candidates that they have the option to conduct their interviews virtually or delay it until an unspecified date in the future out of caution for the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak, according to an email sent to one applicant from LinkedIn’s staffing team.
“In light of the recent coronavirus outbreak and with everyone’s health being LinkedIn’s #1 priority at the moment, all candidates who are scheduled to come onsite are being given the option to either complete their entire interview virtually via BlueJeans video conference, or cancel their current schedule and hold off on rescheduling until coming onsite is possible,”.
Many other companies have also restricted or banned travel in light of the ongoing outbreak, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Ford.
There are over 97,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, with more than 170 confirmed cases in the US. More than 3,300 people worldwide have died from the disease.
