E-commerce giant Amazon has admitted that 19,816 of its frontline US employees at Amazon and Whole Foods have contracted the coronavirus.
This is the first time that Amazon made an official statement regarding how the coronavirus pandemic has affected its employees. The company has been previously refusing to share comprehensive data on the total number of COVID-19 positive workers at its warehouses.
Neither the public nor Amazon employees were aware the total number of coronavirus cases at the company despite the numerous confirmed cases at warehouses across the US and globally.
The firm has been trying to dismiss the importance of releasing site or aggregate information on the number of cases.
Amazon wrote in a blog post that it conducted a "thorough analysis of data on all 1,372,000 Amazon and Whole Foods Market front-line employees across the US employed at any time from March 1 to September 19, 2020."
The retail company then made a comparison between its case rates and the general population during the same period, through reporting Johns Hopkins University reports. It pointed out that based on that comparison, the number of its employees that tested, or were presumed to be, positive was 42% lower than expected.
Coronavirus data tracking
In July, an internal memo from Amazon revealed that the company is actually tracking data on the number of coronavirus cases inside its warehouses.
The revelation from the internal memo demonstrates that Amazon has been closely examining coronavirus data at its warehouses despite previously claiming that the data itself "isn’t particularly useful".
This statement by the firm has caused frustration among workers and critics who are seeking a clearer picture of infections within the facilities, which have become critical hubs for home supplies.
Previously, Amazon senior vice-president (SVP) of worldwide operations Dave Clark claimed that coronavirus cases were "popping up at roughly a rate generally just under what the actual community infection rates are."
However, the internal memo showed that the infection rate at an Amazon warehouse in Shakopee, Minnesota, is significantly higher than its surrounding communities.
The memo indicated that the Shakopee facility, known as MSP1, has an infection rate of 1.7%, which is notably higher than the five local counties surrounding the facility.
During the same period, Scott County, where Shakopee is located, had an infection rate of 0.1%, per the memo while Hennepin County, where Minneapolis is, had a rate of 0.4%.
Updated through May 18, the memo had a breakdown of departments, shifts and counties of residence for the 45 confirmed coronavirus cases. Details included in the memo indicates how much Amazon is paying attention on cases despite not disclosing information.
Amazon claimed that it has taken various initiatives to dampen the spread of COVID-19 in its facilities, including over 150 "process changes" to its operations to improve safety.
The announcement was made as the retailer prepares for its upcoming annual Prime Day sales event on October 13 and 14, which will be a hectic period for employees doing delivery and fulfillment.
In August, the firm announced its plan to hire 3,500 additional workers in cities across the US as part of its expansion initiative amidst the pandemic.
In a blog post, Amazon said the additional workers will be added to its efforts in cloud computing, advertising, smart assistants and grocery delivery, among other areas.
They will be part of office expansions in New York, Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Phoenix and San Diego, which will entail over 905,000 square feet of additional office space and $1.4 billion in investment.
