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Nintendo of America and Apple employees allowed to work from home during coronavirus outbreak

The coronavirus outbreak has lead to Nintendo and Apple allowing their employees to work from home to lessen the illness's spread.

Brittany Vincent

March 9, 2020 9:20 AM

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Amid growing concerns over coronavirus, Nintendo and Apple are the latest companies to have followed Microsoft and Bungie's lead by allowing employees to telecommute.

The ongoing epidemic has been ensuring a wide variety of events and gatherings have been canceled, such as GDC 2020, and now precautions like these are being taken to keep employees from infecting one another by working remotely.

In a statement to Kotaku, Nintendo confirmed that many employees would be able to begin working remotely as part of its contingency plan for helping to contain coronavirus.

"Nintendo of America has taken the precautionary step to allow NOA employees in the states of California and Washington the opportunity to work from home. The safety and wellbeing of our employees is our top priority. We are continuing to closely monitor COVID-19 developments, and share our concerns and support for those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak," a company rep confirmed.

Reports also came flooding in about Apple also opting for its Silicon Valley staff to remain at home instead of coming in to work as part of a "precaution." The company told employees in an internal memo it was "minimizing dense gatherings and reducing proximity where possible." You've got to do everything you can when it comes to mitigating the spread of the virus, and both parties seem to be acting in the manner that makes the most sense here.

As the coronavirus likely spreads in the coming days, we'll probably see many of the same actions taken going forward. Right now, it seems the best course of action may well be for everyone to sit in their homes and hoard toilet paper. We jest, but this outbreak is no joke. We'll likely be seeing additional companies asking employees to work remotely if possible going forward. Hopefully this will all end up blowing over soon. 

Brittany Vincent

Senior Editor

Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, Brittany is a Senior Editor at Shacknews who thrives on surrealism and ultraviolence. Follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake and check out her portfolio for more. Like a fabulous shooter once said, get psyched!