Staying safe, and sane, as Silicon Valley locks down for virus

The normally packed 'Googleplex' in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View is quiet as tech titans asks employees to work from home to fight the spread of novel coronavirus on March 12, 2020. Tech-savvy Silicon Valley is joining the trend of remote work and classes as people seek to contain the fast-growing disease, relying on many of the technologies invented or refined in the area. — Photos: AFP

PALO ALTO, United States: David Tollner gets text messages telling him when meals are placed outside the door of the family guest room, where he was banished after developing a cough.

His wife Mitra Ahani is taking no chances as the coronavirus pandemic spreads in the United States – even though she knows her husband may have no more than a common cold.