Dear Menlo Park City Council, I am Belle Haven resident, homeowner (my property taxes pay for local services) and a registered voter in the City of Menlo Park. I am concerned that Facebook is not doing enough to prevent the spread of COVID19. An employee in their Seattle office tested positive (see story below). Given the frequency of travel between offices of Facebook personnel (and internationally), it is almost a guarantee that infected employees carried the virus into the Menlo Park office and it likely continues to spread unabated. * Part of the problem is that the City of Menlo Park allowed Facebook to pack offices beyond typical occupancy limits resulting in close quarters. * The city is not doing enough to prevent the spread of infection in buffet style cafeterias at Facebook where hundreds of employees touch the same utensils. * The buses and shuttles that Facebook operates are both an avenue of infection by themselves by the and allow employees to travel and spread the virus from/to more distant and diverse regions than otherwise. * This is further compounded by the lack of available, expedient and routine COVID19 testing. We are in essence flying BLIND. We do not have a good idea of just how bad the situation is. What may be Ok in normal times - more traffic and construction pollution noise - a price of development - is NOT Ok in times of emergency. Imagine the headlines if there is a large outbreak of Facebook's Menlo Park office. Menlo Park may take the dubious crown of infection capital and most infections per capita. Local police, emergency and healthcare services may be exposed/infected and overwhelmed. City council may come back and ask me for more taxes to cover costs and voters will remember your actions at election time. Local businesses will suffer. Vulnerable populations in Belle Haven will suffer disproportionately. King County in Seattle issued work-from-home directives and Facebook complied. Given the lack of widely available testing and the totality of circumstances the City of Menlo Park and San Mateo County should use their emergency powers to order work-from-home and mega office closures as much as practical until COVID19 testing is readily available, expedient and at scale. Facebook likely has the ability to switch to work-from-home for most roles without major disruptions to its business. Upon reopening building occupancy permits for large offices should come with clear rules and guidelines drafted by the city and subject to public comment on widespread testing of suspected cases and rules and guidelines on premises liability related to COVID19 environmental hazards. It is simply NOT OK to recklessly expose employees, contractors and visitors to risk. Premises liability is a well-established legal doctrine - I am sure that Facebook would appreciate some clarity and legal cover on that. The situation is very fluid. I ask that City of Menlo Park take decisive action on this TODAY. https://www.geekwire.com/2020/facebook-contractor-seattle-tests-positive-coronavirus-company-closes-office/ Received on Thu Mar 05 2020 - 10:12:55 PST
