Bloomberg
2nd October 2020 – (San Francisco) Amazon.com Inc said almost 20,000 US employees have tested positive for Covid-19 during a time period of a little over six months, a disclosure that follows criticism from some lawmakers and employees that the world’s largest online retailer was too secretive about outbreaks within its ranks.
The retailer said in a blog post Thursday that 19,816 workers tested positive for the respiratory disease, or were presumed positive, out of 1,372,000 U.S. front-line employees who worked for the company from 1st March to 19th September, an infection rate of 1.44%. The company said that if its employees contracted the virus at a rate equal to that of the general population, Amazon would have seen 33,952 cases.
Amazon divulged the information to highlight how its investments in testing, cleaning and other protective measures are working, yet the disclosure was met with renewed concerns about worker safety.
“This is a huge number for a company that has been downplaying how many of their employees have gotten sick,” said Deborah Berkowitz, a former chief of staff of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
