Amazon Warehouse Worker In New York Diagnosed With Coronavirus
The worker at the Queens facility in New York City is recovering in quarantine.
By Ryan Grenoble
An Amazon worker at the company’s delivery station in Queens, New York, has tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The employee is the first Amazon worker in the United States to test positive as the pandemic continues spreading worldwide. At least five European employees, in Spain and Italy, also have tested positive, the company told CNBC.
Workers at the Queens facility were notified via text Wednesday night by the workers’ group Amazonians United. Many night shift employees believed they were expected to show up for work despite the positive test, a member of the group told The Atlantic, which first reported the coronavirus case.
Amazon said that isn’t true.
“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,” Amazon spokesperson Rena Lunak told HuffPost in an emailed statement. “We have implemented proactive measures to protect employees including increased cleaning at all facilities, maintaining social distance, and adding distance between drivers and customers when making deliveries.”
Lunak said the New York individual who tested positive is now in quarantine. The company is giving up to two weeks of pay to employees diagnosed with COVID-19.
Amazon had nearly 800,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2019. Fewer than half were in the U.S.
The coronavirus pandemic has generated a sharp increase in Amazon’s business as people hunker down in their homes and practice social distancing by avoiding shopping trips.
On Monday, the company announced it would hire an additional 100,000 new full-time and part-time workers to meet the increased demand.
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine Tuesday found the coronavirus can survive on cardboard for up to 24 hours. Plastic and stainless steel offer a more hospitable environment for the microbes, with a 72-hour window.
By Ryan Grenoble
An Amazon worker at the company’s delivery station in Queens, New York, has tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The employee is the first Amazon worker in the United States to test positive as the pandemic continues spreading worldwide. At least five European employees, in Spain and Italy, also have tested positive, the company told CNBC.
Workers at the Queens facility were notified via text Wednesday night by the workers’ group Amazonians United. Many night shift employees believed they were expected to show up for work despite the positive test, a member of the group told The Atlantic, which first reported the coronavirus case.
Amazon said that isn’t true.
“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,” Amazon spokesperson Rena Lunak told HuffPost in an emailed statement. “We have implemented proactive measures to protect employees including increased cleaning at all facilities, maintaining social distance, and adding distance between drivers and customers when making deliveries.”
Lunak said the New York individual who tested positive is now in quarantine. The company is giving up to two weeks of pay to employees diagnosed with COVID-19.
Amazon had nearly 800,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2019. Fewer than half were in the U.S.
The coronavirus pandemic has generated a sharp increase in Amazon’s business as people hunker down in their homes and practice social distancing by avoiding shopping trips.
On Monday, the company announced it would hire an additional 100,000 new full-time and part-time workers to meet the increased demand.
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine Tuesday found the coronavirus can survive on cardboard for up to 24 hours. Plastic and stainless steel offer a more hospitable environment for the microbes, with a 72-hour window.
No comments:
Post a Comment