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Employees at nine Amazon warehouses have contracted the coronavirus


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Employees at nine Amazon warehouses have contracted the coronavirus

Amazon has more than 750,000 workers worldwide.

Employees at nine Amazon warehouses have contracted the coronavirus
Lawrence Glass / Getty

A week after the first Amazon warehouse worker tested positive for COVID-19 at a facility in Queens, New York, a total of nine Amazon warehouses have seen employees contract the virus, according to local news reports.

 

Workers have tested positive for the virus at Amazon distribution facilities near Oklahoma City, Louisville, Houston, Jacksonville, and Detroit. There have also been coronavirus cases at Amazon facilities on Staten Island, New York; Wallingford, Connecticut, and most recently Moreno Valley, California, east of Los Angeles.

 

“We are supporting the individuals, following guidelines from local officials, and are taking extreme measures to ensure the safety of all the employees at our sites,” an Amazon spokesman told Ars.

 

Amazon has more than 750,000 employees, many of whom work at distribution facilities around the country. So recent cases represent a tiny fraction of Amazon's warehouse workforce.

 

Amazon says that it is taking a number of precautions to minimize the spread of the virus. The company has stepped up efforts to clean and sanitize its distribution facilities. It has also limited face-to-face meetings and staggered start and break times to promote social distancing.

 

But some workers say Amazon isn't doing enough to protect workers. A worker petition calls on Amazon to offer paid sick leave to all workers, offer workers time-and-a-half hazard pay, and suspend productivity quotas that could make it impractical for workers to take precautions against the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Customers have become increasingly reliant on Amazon deliveries as they have limited travel outside their homes. Amazon has seen customer demand surge in recent weeks, forcing the company to delay deliveries of non-essential items so it can focus on delivering essential goods like baby products, health items, and pet food. The company announced last week that it is looking to hire 100,000 more workers to help deal with increasing order volumes.

 

 

Source: Employees at nine Amazon warehouses have contracted the coronavirus (Ars Technica)  

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