Irish Apple HQ employee contracts coronavirus
A worker at Apple's European headquarters in Cork, Ireland has reportedly been tested positive for the coronavirus, a medical situation that has prompted the iPhone maker to perform a deep clean of the offices and to warn employees to self-isolate.
An employee who worked out of the Cork offices was tested in early March for the virus, promptly after feeling unwell and departing the building. In a statement to the media and in an internal memo, Apple has confirmed the staff member was infected with covid-19.
Apple told employees in an email it was working "closely" with the Health Service Executive of Ireland, reports the Irish Examiner. While the HSE believed the risk to other employees was low, Apple has still informed some who worked "in the immediate working environment" of the person to self-isolate and "not come into the office for an initial 48-hour period."
It was also advised Apple will be "continuing our deep cleaning protocols of all office areas." New developments with the HSE will be "acted on immediately," with offices continuing to remain open as normal.
In a statement to the press, Apple confirmed an employee was infected with the coronavirus, insisted it was working with local health authorities over the situation, and that some employees are in self-isolation.
The report of an employee being infected surfaces shortly after the revelation Apple has enhanced its sickness policy to allow retail workers to take time off with unlimited sick pay if they suffer from symptoms indicative of the coronavirus. Apple has also restricted travel to some countries affected by the virus outbreak, and encouraged office employees to work from home.
An employee who worked out of the Cork offices was tested in early March for the virus, promptly after feeling unwell and departing the building. In a statement to the media and in an internal memo, Apple has confirmed the staff member was infected with covid-19.
Apple told employees in an email it was working "closely" with the Health Service Executive of Ireland, reports the Irish Examiner. While the HSE believed the risk to other employees was low, Apple has still informed some who worked "in the immediate working environment" of the person to self-isolate and "not come into the office for an initial 48-hour period."
It was also advised Apple will be "continuing our deep cleaning protocols of all office areas." New developments with the HSE will be "acted on immediately," with offices continuing to remain open as normal.
In a statement to the press, Apple confirmed an employee was infected with the coronavirus, insisted it was working with local health authorities over the situation, and that some employees are in self-isolation.
The report of an employee being infected surfaces shortly after the revelation Apple has enhanced its sickness policy to allow retail workers to take time off with unlimited sick pay if they suffer from symptoms indicative of the coronavirus. Apple has also restricted travel to some countries affected by the virus outbreak, and encouraged office employees to work from home.
Comments
We should be careful and mindful with the coronavirus, but putting out a news story about one employee in Ireland getting it is a symptom of being panicky and obsessed with it. That mindset has caused more problems for the general public (such as financial hits) than the coronavirus itself. The flu kills far more people every year than the coronavirus likely will (given the careful approach we’ve been taking), yet when was the last news story about some random employee at Apple getting the flu?
Yes, people get the flu. Yes, people die from the flu. The overall coronavirus mortality rate is an order of magnitude higher than that of the flu. The mortality rate in the over 60 crowd is two orders of magnitude higher. And, this is on top of an already busy flu season, and not in replacement of it - and these are conservative numbers.
And what careful approach? The Chinese acted, literally, six weeks too late. The only reason the infection rates in the US are so low, is because tests aren't being performed in the volumes they need to be.
The whole point of the quarantines is to try to contain COVID-19 so it doesn't become an annual event circulating in the population at large.
It might be stopped but it needs draconian measures.
This virus is extremely worrying. It needs Chinese or Italian measures to curtail it. If the latter even work
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-testing-covid-19-tests-per-capita-chart-us-behind-2020-3?IR=T
As of today, I believe the total number of tests carried out in the U.S is 5,000 (as per the CDC).
That really isn't a high enough number to get a good idea of the level of incidence and it doesn't contribute much to the data on the rate of the spread of the virus either.
Know what we know about infection rates from other countries, it is very reasonable to conclude that the U.S will see a spike in infections as its capacity to test for the virus improves.
Put simply, the typical seasonal flu is (especially with the help of flu shots) effectively self-limiting while COVID-19 is not. That’s part of why drastic measures are being taken to try to limit - or at least slow - its spread. We are trying to do through changes in behavior what would, in the case of the typical seasonal flu, be done by acquired immunity and seasonality.