The latest about the impact of the novel coronavirus on Seattle and the technology industry. Follow @geekwire for updates.
March 5, 9:05 a.m. — Salesforce is encouraging all Salesforce and Tableau employees based in the Seattle area to work from home until the end of March.
March 5, 8:05 a.m. — The annual TED conference in Vancouver, Canada will postpone the event or go digital, Axios reported.
March 5, 8 a.m. — Google took a step beyond allowing employees to work from home Wednesday evening as the coronavirus outbreak continued to develop. Google is now asking all employees who can work remotely to do so.
March 4, 11:09 p.m. — Amazon changes coronavirus plan, tells Seattle area employees to work from home until March 31
March 4, 10:11 p.m. — Seattle-area school district closes due to COVID-19, will move 23K students to online learning
March 4, 7:25 p.m. — A Facebook contractor based in Seattle tested positive for coronavirus, the company confirmed Wednesday.
March 4, 5:10 p.m. — Seattle-based coffee giant Starbucks is suspending the use of personal cups and tumblers at its stores. It is also boosting efforts to clean and sanitize all company-owned stores, and restricting business-related air travel through March 31.
March 4, 5:08 p.m. — Seattle startup RealSelf is pulling out of SXSW, the popular tech event in Austin, Texas. The company had planned to host its RealSelf House of Modern Beauty event. Apple also said it is withdrawing from SXSW.
March 4, 5:05 p.m. — Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center implemented a mandatory remote work policy through March 31, except for essential on-campus staff. Fred Hutch researchers are among those tracking the spread of the virus.
March 4, 4:56 p.m. — Microsoft recommends King County employees work from home until March 25. The company is following guidelines set by King County. Those that need to be on-site are instructed to do so, unless they are over 60, have underlying heart conditions, are immune system compromised, or pregnant. Microsoft is also asking workers to postpone travel to Puget Sound or Bay Area campuses, and to limit close interactions with other people in work environments.
March 4, 4:23 p.m. — Nordstrom said it is encouraging employees to work from home or telecommute if they can.
March 4, 4:20 p.m. — Boeing is focusing company travel on business-essential activities, rescheduling events, shifting from face-to-face meetings to virtual conferencing, and enabling telecommuting when possible. The company said it’s “encouraging employees to exercise caution and take all appropriate health and safety measures, in coordination with their managers.”
March 4, 3:20 p.m. — Microsoft said it will withdraw from participating at the health-tech conference HIMSS 2020 in Orlando, Fla. Amazon, Intel, Salesforce, and others already pulled out. Microsoft withdrew from the Game Developers Conference last week and also cancelled its MVP Summit in the Seattle region.
March 4, 2:31 p.m. — Health officials advise people to work at home, postpone gatherings to slow spread of coronavirus. There were 10 new confirmed cases reported Wednesday in the Seattle region, including one additional death, bringing the total for King County to 31 confirmed cases and nine deaths.
March 4, 2020, 2:00 p.m. — The Amazon employee who tested positive for COVID-19 and went home sick on Feb. 25 had dinner at Facebook’s Seattle office the previous night. Facebook confirmed the employee visited its building, Arbor Blocks 333, on Feb. 24. Facebook said Wednesday that it “took immediate action and implemented targeted deep cleaning and enhanced sanitization measures at our cafes at our Arbor Blocks location.”
March 4, 2020, 1:45 p.m. — Federal lawmakers in the House passed an $8.3 billion bill to fight the outbreak on Wednesday. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill Thursday.
March 4, 2020, 1:16 p.m. — UW Medicine ramps up new coronavirus lab test; Gates Foundation pledges $5M for detection: The University of Washington School of Medicine is moving forward with a new clinical lab test for the COVID-19 coronavirus, and plans to be able to test up to 1,500 samples per day by the end of the week. Also today, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it’s committing an additional $5 million to help public health agencies in the Seattle area enhance their capacity to detect the virus. Read more.
March 4, 2020 at 10:11 a.m. — Google bars visitors in Seattle, allows employees to work remotely amid coronavirus outbreak: Employees at Google’s Washington state offices were given the option to work from home this week amid a coronavirus outbreak in the Seattle region. Read more.
March 3, 2020, 5:26 p.m. — Amazon employee in Seattle tests positive for coronavirus: An Amazon employee at the company’s Seattle headquarters has tested positive for the novel coronavirus spreading across the country, according to an internal email obtained by GeekWire. The employee went home sick on Tuesday, Feb. 25 and later tested positive for COVID-19. Amazon notified employees who came into close contact with the individual. The employee is based out of Amazon’s Brazil building at 400 9th Ave N, near downtown Seattle. Read more.
March 3, 2020, 7:20 a.m. — High school student near Seattle builds website to serve as a leading place for coronavirus information: Along with his concern for the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Avi Schiffmann was concerned about the spread of misinformation. So the 17-year-old from just outside Seattle set out to make a website that pulls together the latest and most accurate data about the epidemic — and he’s heard from people around the world about how useful his effort has been. Read more.
Comments