NASA Employees Test Positive for COVID-19

(Photo : REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina)

With the widespread of pandemic coronavirus (COVID-19) and its worsening condition worldwide, some businesses have started limiting their business trips and reschedule (or even postpone) events.

Among these companies are the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

This probable slowdown would smash more than the hardware's development like the spacecraft, with engineers of software who are possibly affected by a restricted capability of working from home if needed. 

Incidentally, the Marshall center of NASA in Huntsville, Alabama released a report late last week that one of its employees tested positive for coronavirus.

This was the second space agency center to have an employee tested. Relatively, SpaceX seems to have largely moved ahead with its usual operations.

However, Elon Musk, the company's CEO, reportedly sent an email to all SpaceX employees, giving an instruction that whenever they feel ill, the best thing to do always, is to stay home and practice self-care.

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Limited in Travels and Events Rescheduled; Building of Spacecraft Continues

As earlier mentioned, NASA, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, have already announced they were limiting their business travels, and they were rescheduling (and postpone or cancel if needed) their respective events, but building spacecraft, they said, would continue.

More so, these companies said they would continue to develop new software "with high-powered computers." The said firms shared too, they were also in collaboration with teams which would likely be outside the question should this pandemic worsens. 

Meanwhile, the Johns Hopkins University released a report stating that the United States has reached around 3,244 confirmed coronavirus cases, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over the weekend persuaded the different organizers to terminate their respective in-person activities or events which would involve 50 or more participants nationwide.

In relation to this, NASA's science division leader Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen said they have so much uncertainty at present. 

2 NASA Crew Members with COVID-19

On Friday, the Marshall center confirmed the NASA employee who tested positive for COVID-19. Currently, the center is in the "Stage 3" response status. This means that it is presently requiring its employees to engage in telework, adding that, their access to the center will be limited only to mission-essential employees.

Jody Sinter, the director of Marshall, said in the statement that there will be more regulations to follow for employees who are not equipped enough to work from home. More so, the director said, they will set another guideline for employees who work in laboratories or other facilities that require the same technical device that's considered as a fixed asset.

Marshal just recently joined the "Stage 3" status along with NASA's Ames Center located in Silicon Valley.

Ames, according to reports, had one employee who also tested positive for COVID-19 last week although the agency said, at that particular time, it believed exposure at Ames Center had already been restricted. In addition, NASA's Kennedy Space Center's privately-operated visitor complex in Florida announced, it would close and stop operations from March 16 until further notice. Meaning, no visitors would be allowed to enter the complex.