HomeNewsWorldSan Francisco: Facebook, Google ask Bay Area staff to work from home amid coronavirus

San Francisco: Facebook, Google ask Bay Area staff to work from home amid coronavirus

The decision is "based on the guidance from Santa Clara County on March 5", Anthony Harrison, Facebook spokesperson, said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

March 06, 2020 / 12:29 IST
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Social media giant Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google on March 5 recommended their San Francisco Bay Area employees to work from home to minimize the risk of spreading Covid-19.

Facebook said it is "strongly recommending that all bay area employees and contingent staff work from home starting March 6."

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The decision is "based on the guidance from Santa Clara County on March 5", Anthony Harrison, Facebook spokesperson, said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Employees and contractors involved in the site's safety and security will continue to work on site, while all the Bay Area events will remain canceled, according to the statement.

COVID-19 Vaccine
Frequently Asked Questions

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.
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