In response to the recent coronavirus cases in Washington state, major tech firms such as Microsoft Corp. and Salesforce.com Inc. have called on employees based out of the Seattle area to work from home.

Salesforce on Wednesday evening issued guidance encouraging employees in Seattle, Kirkland and Bellevue to avoid coming into the office during March, while Facebook Inc. has asked its Seattle employees to do the same until the end of the month.

Tech companies that have their global headquarters in Washington are taking precautions as well. Microsoft, whose main corporate location is in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, is recommending that local staffers avoid coming into the office through March 25 unless their roles require them to be present onsite. Amazon.com Inc. has requested all of its Seattle-area staffers to work remotely through March 31 if their responsibilities permit.

Google LLC, which maintains a sizable presence in the city as well, has issued similar rules for workers in Washington state. The search giant this week took the added step of asking employees not to bring external visitors into its regional offices. 

Elsewhere in the tech industry, event organizers are continuing to feel the impact of the global coronavirus outbreak. Axios reported today that the high-profile TED conference scheduled for April will either be pushed back or scrapped altogether in favor of a digital-only event. The news follows the cancellation of several other major tech summits including Facebook’s F8, Google I/O and MWC.

Over in Washington D.C., the Senate today passed a $8.3 billion emergency spending bill to combat further spread of the coronavirus. CNBC reported that the package earmarks more than $3 billion for vaccine research and $1.25 billion to address the coronavirus overseas.

But the intensifying global effort to combat the outbreak has failed to reassure investors. After a rebound in stocks yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked more than 940 points, or about 3.5%, this afternoon and erased most of the recent gains, while the S&P 500 has slid more than 3.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is nearly 3% lower than where it was at market close yesterday.

There are over 97,800 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide, with more than 3,340 deaths. Of the confirmed cases, 70 are in Washington state and 51 in King County, which includes Seattle as well as Redmond. 

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