Another Amazon worker tests positive for coronavirus
Another worker has tested positive for the coronavirus at an Amazon warehouse near Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the company confirmed Tuesday night.
This is at least the second case for the online retailer’s Las Vegas Valley operations. Last month, an employee at a warehouse in North Las Vegas had tested positive.
Amazon spokesman Timothy Carter said the company has taken steps to minimize exposure employees may have while working at its facilities.
“Since the early days of this situation, we have worked closely with health authorities to proactively respond, ensuring we continue to serve customers while taking care of our associates and teams,” Carter said in an emailed statement. “We have also implemented proactive measures at our facilities to protect employees including increased cleaning at all facilities, maintaining social distance in the fulfillment centers, and adding distance between drivers and customers when making deliveries.”
Safety measures such as providing staff masks, gloves and hand sanitizer and adding thermal cameras are expected to cost Amazon north of $800 million in the first half of 2020, according to the company.
It also has employees performing safety-related tasks and audits to ensure social distancing practices are upheld, as well as temperature checks.
Amazon Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said during an earnings call last week that coronavirus-related costs could reach “$4 billion or more in Q2” with expenses coming from “productivity headwinds in our facilities as we provide for social distancing and allow for the ramp-up of new employees (and) investments in personal protective equipment for employees, enhanced cleaning of our facilities, our wages for our hourly teams and hundreds of millions of dollars to develop COVID-19 testing capabilities.”
Amazon last month announced plans to hire at least 800 workers in Nevada, bringing the total of its recent U.S. hiring spree to about 175,000 employees as it tries to meet increased consumer demand.
Contact Subrina Hudson at shudson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @SubrinaH on Twitter.
