Amazon reveals almost 20,000 US workers have tested positive for Covid-19

Amazon says that nearly 20,000 of its workers have tested positive or been presumed positive for the virus that causes Covid-19

Amazon Prime Day (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Almost 20,000 Amazon workers in the US have tested positive for coronavirus or been presumed positive, the company has revealed.

Amazon said it is conductung thousands of tests a day and that its data indicate that the rate of Covid-19 cases in its workforce is lower than the national average.

The company estimates that if nationwide rates were reflected across its 1.37 million US workers, 33,952 cases would have been reported.

In reporting the figures, Amazon bowed to sustained pressure from critics over workplace safety following a number of reports of cases at its warehouses.

Amazon has enjoyed a huge increase in revenues since the pandemic began as it has kept up with rising demand for online shopping.

That has turned the spotlight once again onto the safety and wellbeing of workers at the company.

The company said in a blog post that it was investing hundreds of millions of dollars in its testing programme across 650 US sites.

Each site is cleaned approximately every 90 minutes to sanitise door handles, handrails, lockers, lift buttons, and touch screens, Amazon said.

Athena, a coalition of caampaigners calling for stricter oversight of Amazon, called for immediate investigations by public health officials.

Dania Rajendra, Athena’s director, said in a statement: “Amazon allowed Covid-19 to spread like wildfire in its facilities, risking the health of tens of thousands of people who work at Amazon – as well as their family members, neighbours and friends.

“Amazon is, in no uncertain terms, a threat to public health.”

Employers are not legally obliged to publish figures on how many of their workers have contracted the virus.

However, companies must provide a safe working environment and alert staff if they might have been exposed, according to guidelines from US health authorities.  

All firms have to keep track of Covid-19 infections among employees and notify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration if there is a hospitalisation or death related to the disease.

The data on infections comes as Amazon prepares for a further boost to sales during its annual Prime Day promotion on 13 and 14 October.

A perceived lack of transparency has left workers at various retailers, including Amazon and Walmart, to become amateur sleuths in their spare time. Unions and advocate groups have taken up the cause, too, creating lists or building online maps of stores where workers can self-report cases they know about.

Walmart had said in July that its Covid-19 cases track with the rest of the country, but didn’t explain why it doesn’t provide numbers.

Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents grocery and meatpacking workers, called Amazon's disclosure as “the most damning evidence we have seen that corporate America has completely failed to protect our country's frontline workers in this pandemic."

UFCW is calling for immediate action by federal regulators and a full congressional investigation.

"This titanic safety failure demands the highest level of scrutiny," Perrone said.

Additional reporting by AP