Apple staffer at Culver City office tests positive for COVID-19

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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An Apple employee at a key office location in Southern California has tested positive for COVID-19, the company confirmed on Monday.

Apple's office in Culver City, Calif., thought to be central to the company's TV and movie endeavors.
Apple's office in Culver City, Calif., thought to be central to the company's TV and movie endeavors.


One of Apple's staffers at its Culver City, Calif. location informed the company that they tested positive for coronavirus. The employee didn't have symptoms during their last period in the office and is currently in self-isolation, Apple said.

The company confirmed the diagnosis in a statement to Billboard. The publication added that employees at the location were alerted via email on Sunday, but the office otherwise remains open.

Apple's offices in Culver City are largely thought to be related to its original content offerings, specifically Apple TV+, given their proximity to Hollywood. More recently, job postings have suggested that work on Apple Maps could be ongoing there, too.

This appears to be the second Apple employee in the Los Angeles area to have contracted COVID-19. On Friday, an Apple retail staffer from the company's Santa Monica, Calif. location also tested positive for the virus.

Similarly, there have been at least three confirmed cases of the coronavirus at Apple's primary European facility in Cork, Ireland.

The news follows reports of executives Tim Cook and Eddy Cue possibly being exposed to COVID-19 at a Palm Springs birthday party for Lucian Grainge, Universal Music's CEO. Grainge has since been hospitalized due to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.

Apple first began urging its San Francisco Bay Area employees to work from home if possible, and is taking similar measures to encourage "flexible work arrangements" elsewhere. The company has closed all of its retail locations outside of China, however.

Los Angeles is currently in partial lockdown mode as of Monday morning, with many businesses being shuttered to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,357member
    We knew  Apple's apparent immunity to viruses would end, eventually. I wish them all well.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    tenthousandthingstenthousandthings Posts: 1,036member
    Virtually every working person in the United States will have this experience soon. I am already there — my family is in self-quarantine with a co-worker of my spouse fighting for his life in the ICU with COVID-19.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    Unless everyone self-quarantines for a couple weeks, I'd imagine at least half of us will eventually have it (and if not this year, next year).

    What I find interesting is that cities on lock-down are shutting down restaurants, bars, etc. but not grocery stores or lots of other types of businesses. It isn't going to do *that* much good of only big tech-companies remote-work some of their employees.

    All the people hoarding toilet paper have probably already given it to each other.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Virtually every working person in the United States will have this experience soon. I am already there — my family is in self-quarantine with a co-worker of my spouse fighting for his life in the ICU with COVID-19.
    Do you mind if I ask you a few things? Which state/city are they in? How old is this coworker? Are they a smoker? And are you and your spouse under 60-65 years of age? Hope everything works out for all involved.
    edited March 2020 tmaycgWerks
  • Reply 5 of 8
    electrosoftelectrosoft Posts: 50member
    cgWerks said:
    Unless everyone self-quarantines for a couple weeks, I'd imagine at least half of us will eventually have it (and if not this year, next year).

    What I find interesting is that cities on lock-down are shutting down restaurants, bars, etc. but not grocery stores or lots of other types of businesses. It isn't going to do *that* much good of only big tech-companies remote-work some of their employees.

    All the people hoarding toilet paper have probably already given it to each other.

    It isn't an all or nothing proposition. There is going to be accepted/known contact just based on human nature and base needs. Any flattening of the spread curve is welcome. The idea is to have pockets of eventual immunity for when society returns to some semblance of normality to blunt subsequent phases of infections and to lessen the burden on medical services.
    fastasleep
  • Reply 6 of 8
    tenthousandthingstenthousandthings Posts: 1,036member
    Virtually every working person in the United States will have this experience soon. I am already there — my family is in self-quarantine with a co-worker of my spouse fighting for his life in the ICU with COVID-19.
    Do you mind if I ask you a few things? Which state/city are they in? How old is this coworker? Are they a smoker? And are you and your spouse under 60-65 years of age? Hope everything works out for all involved.
    New York, New York. Forty-something, don’t know smoking history. People under sixty die from this, but the point of the quarantine is not to protect ourselves, it’s to protect others. 
    edited March 2020 muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 7 of 8
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    tenthousandthings said:
    Virtually every working person in the United States will have this experience soon. I am already there — my family is in self-quarantine with a co-worker of my spouse fighting for his life in the ICU with COVID-19.
    Do you mind if I ask you a few things? Which state/city are they in? How old is this coworker? Are they a smoker? And are you and your spouse under 60-65 years of age? Hope everything works out for all involved.
    New York, New York. Forty-something, don’t know smoking history. People under sixty die from this, but the point of the quarantine is not to protect ourselves, it’s to protect others. 
    Again, hope there’s a good conclusion.

    Cases I’ve heard of with those under 65+ involve those with lung damage from smoking or pollution, diabetes or other ailments which have compromised their immunity or lung function.

    I’m also aware that most people will ultimately be infected. Not all will be as severely affected as those who are in the more susceptible catagories.
    tmay
  • Reply 8 of 8
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    electrosoft said:
    It isn't an all or nothing proposition. There is going to be accepted/known contact just based on human nature and base needs. Any flattening of the spread curve is welcome. The idea is to have pockets of eventual immunity for when society returns to some semblance of normality to blunt subsequent phases of infections and to lessen the burden on medical services.
    Yeah, and I'm all for doing that, to some extent. What I worry about are is the potential even bigger negative impact of what results from the economic collapse and public panic that seem to be resulting.

    Also, just the scale issue. For example, I heard today that there are 400 cases in New York City. In a place of ~8 million, that's nothing. Now, maybe millions already have it and don't know... but just in comparison to about any other (similar) disease, this is small-taters. And, people with immune compromised systems (elderly, other conditions, etc.) already take precautions, because there are a dozen other common things around each year that will endanger them as well.

    There's either something going on here that they aren't telling us, or this is way overblown. It is going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy situation, whether the disease actually does much damage or not.
    edited March 2020
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