HP orders workers into SARS home quarantine

WHILE ONE INTEL employee is now in quarantine and trade shows in South East Asia are quaking in their boots because of the SARS virus, computer companies are putting other plans in train to prevent their businesses and their employees getting affected.

Yesterday we reported that Intel had canned its Developer Forums in Beijing and in Taipei, Taiwan. And now we have seen a confidential HP memo which tells its employees how they should act.

Rather than infect their colleagues at work with the virus, if they've got it, they should instead spend 10 days at home, so ensuring that if anyone picks up the virus, it will be family, friends and neighbours. And maybe the postman, the milkman, the gasman and the Jehovah's Witnesses that drop by with the Watchtower.

This is possibly not the wisest advice HP could give.

Meanwhile, late as usual, the British Foreign Office has noticed there is a problem in the Far East and has finally got round to advising Brits to be careful where they travel. Here's its advice on Hong Kong. And for some reason the FO has seen fit to list Norway on its travel list, although possibly the worst things that could happen there are that you get attacked by a Blue Parrot or spend all your money on just buying one beer.

New Travel Precautions
Employees who recently returned or who are in the process of returning home from business or personal trips to five Asian countries are being asked to work from home during a 10-day quarantine period, due to concerns over possible exposure to the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus.

HP is in the process of identifying and notifying the employees who visited Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore or Vietnam recently on HP business travel. On March 28, HP banned all business travel into and out of those five countries indefinitely. Employees returning from personal trips in these countries are also encouraged to observe the 10-day quarantine period.

A source at the company said that HP's senior leadership confirmed on March 31 that the travel ban extends to third parties, suppliers and other vendors traveling into or out of the five countries. The third-party travel ban isn't expected to impact HP's day-to-day business operation. [Right. Ed.]

Last week, an HP employee in Hong Kong was suspected of contracting the SARS virus. The employee's condition is being monitored closely, the office was sanitized over the weekend and all employees in the office are taking special precautions, either working from home or wearing surgical masks and gloves.

Q&As and other related information are available on HP's Travel, Heath, Safety and Security website More information on SARS is available on the U.S. Center for Disease Control and World Health Organization websites.

See Also
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IEEE conference cancelled as SARS pandemic spreads
Intel's Barrett worried about SARS situation
SARS really is very nasty
Deadly pneumonia starts affecting hi-tech biz
Killer virus is toothless old thingie, maybe