Amazon warehouses are getting hit with coronavirus cases
From CNN’s Brian Fung
Amazon warehouses are dealing with at least nine facilities hit so far with coronavirus cases, according to Amazon and local media reports.
One person who works in Amazon’s Staten Island, New York fulfillment center tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the online retail giant told CNN late Tuesday. The person, who was physically at work last on March 11, is in quarantine and recovering, Amazon said.
That case marks the second to affect Amazon warehouses in New York. It comes a week after the first reported case at any US Amazon facility, in Queens, New York. Other positive cases have been reported at Amazon facilities in Moreno Valley, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Shepherdsville, Ky; Brownstown, Mich.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Katy, Texas; and Wallingford, Conn.
What is Amazon doing: Amazon has temporarily closed some sites, such as the Queens location, but has largely refrained from mass closures — instead telling the public it is taking “extreme measures to ensure the safety of employees at our site[s].”
That includes regularly sanitizing door handles, elevator buttons, lockers and touch screens, Amazon said, as well as staggering shifts and spreading out chairs in break rooms.
The spread of the virus within Amazon’s massive logistics operation threatens to disrupt shipments and delay deliveries even as millions of Americans are becoming more reliant on the service as they observe social distancing. The company is already warning visitors to its website of longer delivery times, and encouraging customers to select no-rush shipping if their needs are not urgent.
A CNN review of Amazon’s website Wednesday morning showed delivery dates in mid-April for Amazon's white-label toilet paper. Digital thermometers, the site said, could be delivered by early May.
