Although the United States has recently passed the 2 million mark infected by the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) and more than 110,000 deaths, in some places life is (as far as possible) returning to “normality” – including Apple employees and some company stores.
Return to campuses
Apple employees working in the Apple Park is at Infinite Loop, both located in Cupertino (California), then gradually resuming their posts. Concomitantly, the company is taking actions to prevent community contagion in its facilities, as disclosed by Bloomberg.
According to the information, the employees who returned to work in the campuses Apple users have the option of doing a quick nasal test, while temperature measurement and wearing masks are mandatory. In addition, Apple has closed many of its kitchens and is restricting the number of people indoors, such as elevators.
The company’s head of retail and people, Deirdre O’Brien, said the return to campuses Apple’s would be done in phases; the first one is underway now and includes hardware and software engineers. The next phase is expected to start in July, although the company said it is constantly analyzing the scenario and that its plans may change based on the progress of the disease.
Store reopening
Apple Champs-Élysées in Paris (France)
As of this week, some Apple stores in France, at Spain, at Turkey it is us United Arab Emirates will reopen after closed weeks due to the pandemic.
In France, all 20 stores will reopen starting tomorrow (9/6), including the main points of sale at Champs-Élysées, Marché Saint-Germain, and Opéra.
Today (8/6), seven more Apple Stores in Spain have reopened (in addition to the four stores reopened previously), as well as the company’s two points in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition, the company’s three units in the United Arab Emirates also resumed operations as of this Monday.
History of the partnership with Google
A publication of the Swiss newspaper NZZ immersed in the creation of the Apple and Google Exposure Alert API, which aims to contribute to users and governments in monitoring the progress of COVID-19.
The idea originally came from the founder of VMware, Edouard Bugnion, who heard a suggestion by epidemiologist Marcel Salathe about using an app to monitor infections in a pandemic. In his research, Salathe observed existing solutions in Asia that depended on GPS, but also used a large amount of personal data.
Bugnion then contacted data protection specialist Carmela Troncoso to work on a tracking application that would not use GPS. They soon realized that Bluetooth LE would be an option that would both save data and guarantee users’ privacy.
The executive, however, determined that Apple’s assistance would be necessary due to the company’s strict policies on the use of Bluetooth on iPhones. After talks, Bugnion was able to meet with Apple’s Chief Strategic Health Initiative, Myoung Cha, who reported the technology to the Apple COO, Jeff Williams.
In early April, Apple was ready to invest in the technology, but it determined that Google needed to help because it was necessary to create an interoperable system. Shortly thereafter, on 10/4, Apple and Google announced the Exposure Alert API.
via AppleInsider [1, 2], Cult of Mac
