Amazon Counts Over 19,000 Employees Infected By COVID-19

After being pressed by labor groups, regulators, and even politicians, Amazon.com AMZN has finally disclosed the number of its workers infected by Covid-19. Amazon disclosed that more than 19,000 of its workers have contacted the virus in the period between March 1 and September 19. The exact number counts 19, 816 workers, which is 1.44% of the total number of Amazon employees in the U.S. 

Despite being pressed, Amazon has been resistant to release this data. It took the joint effort of its warehouse workers, who claimed that the company didn’t grant them sufficient protection from the pandemic, for Amazon to finally publish the figures. It turned out that warehouse workers convinced Amazon to react by compiling a crowdsourced database of infections. Until Thursday, Amazon was refusing to publish the number of infected and even said that these numbers could mislead the public. 

At least eight Amazon workers have died of Covid-19, but the company has yet to release an updated figure. Still, Amazon conducts thousands of tests daily and they expect that by November, 50,000 tests per day will be completed. 

According to the company, the rate of infection among its workers was 42% less than expected, with a company spokesman saying the have kept the situation “under control" and that the rate of infection in its warehouses is way lower than that in surrounding communities. Some Amazon employees like its warehouse workers in Minnesota dispute that claim.