BFF-18 Google restricts visits to curb coronavirus risk

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Google restricts visits to curb coronavirus risk

SAN FRANCISCO, March 10, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Google on Monday began
restricting visits to its offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco and New
York as it ramped up precautions against the deadly novel coronavirus.

The added measure was enacted as word went out that Apple had joined the
list of technology firms advising employees to work from home and that the
prestigious TED Conference set to take place in April has been delayed to
protect the health of attendees.

To reduce novel coronavirus risk, “external/social visits” to some Google
offices have been restricted, and all job interviews will be “virtual”
instead of face-to-face for the foreseeable future, according to a
spokesperson.

Google was already among technology companies including Facebook, Microsoft
and Amazon that have given employees the option of working from home instead
of going to the office.

Apple over the weekend told employees at most of its offices around the
world that they can work from home this week, according to an internal memo
reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by Axios.

Twitter staff across the world was asked to work from home starting Monday
in an effort to stop the spread of the new coronavirus epidemic.

Google last week cancelled its major annual gathering of software
developers amid virus concerns.

The internet giant said it nixed the festival-like event Google I/O event
scheduled for May a short distance from the “Googleplex” in the Silicon
Valley city of Mountain View.

The annual Google I/O conference typically attracts thousands of developers
from around the world to mingle with one another and with engineers from the
internet company on ways to synchronize software and services to its array of
offerings.

It joined a growing list of global events that have been cancelled as the
virus spreads around the world.

A game developers conference in San Francisco was postponed, and Facebook
recently cancelled its F8 developers conference, the biggest annual event for
the US tech giant, due to virus worries.

Like Google I/O, the F8 gathering in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose
typically draws throngs of software makers from around the world who
collaborate with the tech giant on its platform.

Face-to-face interaction at the San Jose conference center will be replaced
with online presentations.

A TED conference slated to take place in Vancouver next month was postponed
until late July after a majority of attendees voted to delay the real-world
gathering instead of replacing it with streamed presentations, organizers
said on Monday.

The annual gathering, renowned for exploring “ideas worth spreading,”
typically attracts the brilliant, influential and accomplished and is a stage
for the popular “TED Talks” made available free online.

The major annual South By Southwest cultural conference slated to take
place in Austin, Texas, was also cancelled due to coronavirus concerns.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 0952 hrs