Amazon informed workers at a warehouse in Queens, New York via text that one of the workers at the facility tested positive for coronavirus according to The Atlantic. It read: “We’re writing to let you know that a positive case of the coronavirus (COVID-19) was found at our facility today.”
This is the first positive case of coronavirus in an Amazon warehouse, threatening its operations amid the outbreak. The Atlantic reports that an Amazon spokesperson says The company is in support of the worker.
According to a spokesperson, the eCommerce giants then sent the workers home in abid to disinfect the warehouse.
“In addition to our enhanced daily deep cleaning, we’ve temporarily closed the Queens delivery station for additional sanitation and have sent associates home with full pay,” the spokesperson said.
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According to Buzz Feed, Amazon warehouse employees were already worried about their risk of catching the virus. This because they tend to stand in close proximity to one another.
Amazon in a statement at the time said it valued its employees and were taking precautions.
“We deeply value our employees and partners around the world as they continue to come to work and serve the people in their communities in a way that very few can — delivering critical supplies directly to the doorsteps of people who need them. We are going to great lengths to keep the buildings extremely clean and help employees practice important precautions such as social distancing and other measures,” the company’s statement read.
Amazon had announced earlier in March that it would give two weeks of pay to any worker diagnosed with coronavirus. The company also gave its hourly workers unlimited paid time off until the end of March 2020.
Amazon also said it would be recruiting 100,000 workers to meet increasing demand, improving hourly pay by $2.
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