NASA Ames employee tests positive for coronavirus at California center - Business Insider - Business Insider

Foto: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images NASA's Future Flight Central, the world's first full-scale virtual airport control tower at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, 1995.

NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley has instructed all of its employees to work from home after a worker tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

The research facility, located at Moffett Federal Airfield, conducts research on aeronautics, exploration technology and science.

A spokesperson for NASA Ames told Business Insider that it is imposing the „mandatory telework status“ at its California facility effective immediately in response to an employee testing positive on Sunday.

„Out of an abundance of caution, Ames will temporarily go to a mandatory telework status until further notice,“ the center said in a statement. „Limiting personnel at the center will allow Ames medical personnel and public health officials to determine potential contacts and assess areas that may require additional cleaning and mitigate potential exposure to center personnel.“

„The safety of our employees and their families is our top priority,“ the center added. „Any decisions we have made, or will make, is with the safety of our workforce in mind.“

NASA Ames joins a growing list of Silicon Valley offices asking their employees to work from home as a precaution against the coronavirus outbreak.

Facebook has instructed employees at its Menlo Park headquarters and other offices to work from home in order to „minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19.“ An employee at its Seattle offices tested positive for the virus.

Google, Twitter, Microsoft, and other companies with California offices also instructed employees to work from home.

The US has reported at least 547 coronavirus cases, including over 100 cases of the virus and one death in California. Eighteen others have died in Washington state and two deaths were confirmed in Florida.

Globally, the virus has infected more than 110,000 and killed over 3,800 people.

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