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SAN FRANCISCO – While Google opposes anti-vaccine misinformation on its platform, the technology giant's campus in Silicon Valley, where thousands of people work, is now facing its own case of measles as the virus recurs in the United States. .
In an email sent to employees last week and obtained by BuzzFeed News, a Google doctor wrote that a worker who had just visited one of his buildings in Mountain View, California, had been diagnosed with measles.
David Kaye, a medical doctor at Google, wrote that the worker was at the office at 1295 Charleston Road on April 4th.
"We are working with the public health department of Santa Clara County and would like us to share this opinion on measles, which contains information on measles, exposure risks and what to do about it," wrote Kaye on April 13, adding that "this note is: just a precaution. Neither Kaye nor Google immediately responded to requests for comment.
The dangerous virus was eliminated from the United States in 2000 – but there are now 555 cases in 20 states, the CDC said this week. New York City has stated that a local outbreak is a public health emergency and has issued a mandatory vaccination order. In Santa Clara County, which includes Mountain View, four measles cases have been confirmed, public health officials said Tuesday.
Public health experts attribute this resurgence, at least in part, to the spread of anti-vaccine falsehoods on social media platforms. In February, BuzzFeed News discovered that YouTube's algorithm continues to promote anti-vax videos, despite pressure from US lawmakers to limit content. As a result of this story, YouTube has demonetized or removed ads from these videos.
"We allow ads to appear in videos that we allow, and videos that promote anti-vaccine content violate these rules," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement last month at BuzzFeed. News. "We are applying these policies vigorously."
In 2015, Wired reported that a measles vaccination rate was 68% in a Google daycare, although Google challenged the accuracy of the article at the time.
Although measles is highly contagious, the warning about the diagnosed employee has not been universally disseminated within Google or its parent company, Alphabet. Five employees told BuzzFeed News that they had not received email or been informed of potential exposure.
The source who sent the email to BuzzFeed News said he believed the message was aimed at everyone working in the Charleston 1295 building. And some employees who received the original message posted it on Google internal groups or forwarded to colleagues from other buildings in case they would have recently visited 1295 Charleston, said the person .
The building is the headquarters of several Google executives. We do not know how many people work in the building.
Here is the email from David Kaye, a physician in occupational medicine from Google, addressed to some employees on April 13, 2019:
Dear all,
This note is just a precaution. A googler who was in Charleston on Thursday, April 4th at 12:95 pm was diagnosed with measles.
We are working with the Department of Public Health in Santa Clara County and would like us to share this view against measles, which contains information on measles, exposure and the measures to be taken. More information (including a list of frequently asked questions) is available on the CDC's Measles page.
If you have additional concerns or specific questions about your health, please contact your primary health care provider. If you learn that you have a confirmed case of measles, please let us know at the go / disease address.
Caroline O'Donovan contributed to reporting this story.
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