Apple today confirmed that an employee has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus at its campus in Cork, Ireland. In a statement issued to Independent.ie, Apple said the individual has gone into and remains in self-isolation.
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As a precaution, Apple has asked some of its employees to stay at home while it assesses the situation in accordance with guidance from health authorities:
One of our employees in Cork has been confirmed to have Covid-19.
We are closely coordinating with the local health authorities who feel the risk to others is low, and the individual remains in self-isolation.
As a precaution, we have asked some of our team members to stay at home while we work with the Health and Safety Executive to assess the situation. We are continuing to regularly deep clean all our offices and stores and will take all necessary precautions in accordance with guidance from health authorities.
To our best knowledge, this is the first confirmed case of an Apple employee testing positive for COVID-19 in any country.
Apple has reportedly encouraged its employees in Cupertino and many other locations to work from home this week if possible. Another report this week claimed that Apple has offered its retail employees and some other hourly workers unlimited sick leave if they experience COVID-19 symptoms, with no doctor's note required.
Apple like many companies is taking various other precautions in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak, including suspending "Today at Apple" sessions in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Italy, China, and select other locations. It is also looking like an inevitability that Apple will cancel WWDC 2020 as a physical event, with other large developer conferences like Google I/O and Facebook F8 having already been canceled.
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No, it isn't pointless. A person without symptoms is going to be less infectious, because there is less of the virus in their system, therefore less to spread to others, and without symptoms like coughing, they are les likely to spread what they do have into the air or cough it up into their hands.The scariest part of this virus is that you can show no symptoms for 5 days, but still be contagious during that period. When you start having symptoms and treat it, it’s almost pointless to quarantine because you’ve exposed so many people already.