Apple's Cork employees contending with coronavirus and rubella fears

Some of Apple's Cork employees are choosing to work from home, over fears concerning both the coronavirus outbreak and a case of rubella.

As reported by The Echo:

Apple staff who are feeling unwell are working from home in Cork amid fears of further rubella cases and concerns over the coronavirus.

The Echo recently revealed that the first confirmed case of rubella in Ireland in 11 years had been discovered in a person who works at the Apple campus in Hollyhill, Cork.

Concerned Apple employees told The Echo they fear the illness could spread while a local GP warned of a possible outbreak.

The first COVID-19 case in Ireland was recently diagnosed, and just a few days ago, the first case of rubella in the country for 11 years was discovered in one of Apple's Hollyhill campus employees in Cork.

According to the report, staff described an air of "unease" due to the situation. It is reported that most staff who are feeling unwell have chosen to stay at home due to concerns about coronavirus, however, "there does remain an unease around the building but no further development of rubella cases".

Apple is working with the Health Service Executive regarding the issue and is confident the risk of either disease spreading is low. Dr. Nick Flynn of Cork HSE Immunisation Steering Group reportedly said of the rubella fears:

"If that person was infectious and they have been out and about around Cork, we could easily be looking at an outbreak...

"As a community, we don't appear to have herd immunity when it comes to measles and mumps - mumps is spreading relatively easily and I've been seeing two or three cases a week and we see the same increase with measles every now and again as well.

"There's no reason we couldn't see a similar outbreak of rubella because that is included in the MMR vaccine and it should, in theory, have the same level of immunity as the other two."

Of course, given the blanket global coverage of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, it is tragically ironic that Cork employees must also face concerns regarding the potential outbreak of a disease not seen for 11 years in the country.