Thousands of Amazon workers contracted COVID-19 [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• For the first time, Amazon shared that over 19,000 of its front-line employees nationwide have been infected with COVID-19 during the health crisis.
• According to the company, the infection rate of the 19,816 COVID cases is 42 percent lower than the US’ overall population rate.
• Amazon also revealed its goal of targeting 50,000 tests each day in multiple facilities by November.

Amazon’s testing updates, released on Thursday, revealed that over 19,000 company workers have tested positive for the coronavirus during the pandemic.

This is the first time the company has publicly reported case numbers among its more than 1.3 million front-line employees in multiple facilities across the U.S.

In a press release, Amazon said that compared to the general US population infection rate, the 19,816 COVID cases, which represent a 42 percent infection rate, were lower than expected. While no number of deaths of its employees from the virus had been released, at least 10 were publicly reported.

In addition, the company also shared its updates on testing capacities, saying that by November, it aims to target 50,000 tests per day across 650 facilities.

The revelation comes one day after NBC News wrote an article highlighting Amazon’s lack of transparency towards its response to the pandemic and after employees denounced the company’s dealing with the coronavirus.

Demand for Amazon’s services has soared during the pandemic, which led to the company hiring more than 100,000 additional workers.

In response to the health crisis, Amazon vowed to implement additional safety measures including providing protective equipment to its employees, increasing cleaning procedures, and imposing social distancing measures at warehouses.

However, company workers across facilities have gone on strike and have spoken against the implementation of such protocols. This prompted the company to terminate several warehouse workers as well as those operating on the technology side.

The testing figures released are anticipated to subject the company’s safety measures to additional scrutiny. 

Source: The Hill