An illustration of the new coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19. Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control.
Companies are restricting business travel, implementing work-from-home policies and switching to virtual conferences to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Even before Friday’s news that eight cases of COVID-19 were linked to a meeting of BioGen executives held Feb. 26 and 27 at Boston’s Long Wharf Marriott, sweeping changes in business practices were starting to take hold. State public health officials announced Sunday that 15 more Massachusetts residents had tested positive for the coronavirus-caused illness.
BioGen ordered all of its office-based employees, based at locations in Massachusetts, North Carolina and Switzerland, to work from home until further notice. The approximately 175 top-level employees who attended the Boston meeting have been told to self-quarantine, BioGen. announced Sunday.
Amid growing concerns about a widespread outbreak in the U.S., many local companies have been dusting off crisis plans last visited during the winter of 2015 when a series of snowstorms caused severe disruptions to public transit and commuting.
“It really has encouraged companies to take a look at their plans if they don’t have one in place,” said Tamara Small, CEO of the commercial real estate development organization NAIOP Massachusetts.
Many office landlords have increased frequency of cleaning high-touch areas such as doors and elevator buttons while adding hand sanitizer dispensers in lobbies, Small noted.
Commercial real estate brokerage Avison Young said it has withdrawn from participation in the MIPIM property conference which begins today in Cannes, France, following previous announcements by Cushman & Wakefield and Blackstone Group.
Along with dropping out of the MIPIM conference, Avison Young said it has postponed large internal meetings and told employees to avoid non-essential travel.
Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, the private industry group that represents the state’s life science companies, previously announced last week a new visitor and events policy. MassBio asked people who have traveled since Feb. 22 to the six most widely-affected countries, or who show symptoms of infection, to avoid visiting its Kendall Square offices or attending meetings. The organization, which has its annual meeting March 25 and 26 in Cambridge, said upcoming events will go on as scheduled, but it’s considering providing remote capabilities.
Anticipating a surge in work-from-home demand, Boston-based LogMeIn last week said it would provide a three-month trial of its GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar software to existing customers.
A large Salesforce conference which was scheduled to begin Thursday in Sydney, Australia was converted into an online meeting.
The Building Owners and Managers Association BOMA issued a global advisory to landlords on best practices, urging them to consider flexible leave policies and provide sanitizing equipment such as alcohol-based hand cleaner and no-touch trash cans.
“We’re going to learn more as time goes on each day so people can make good decisions for the building,” said Greg Vasil, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board.
