USA TODAY International Edition
Amazon warehouse worker died of virus
A warehouse worker at an Amazonoperated facility in New York died of the coronavirus just weeks after employees sounded the alarm about the company’s response to the pandemic.
Amazon confirmed Wednesday that a staffer – last seen at work April 5 – told the company he had tested positive for COVID- 19 April 11.
The worker at the Staten Island warehouse had no known contact with other staffers since getting sick, Amazon said.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of an associate at our site in Staten Island, ( New York). His family and loved ones are in our thoughts, and we are supporting his fellow colleagues,” Amazon spokesperson Rachael Lighty said in a statement.
Amazon is in the process of letting all site employees know about the loss.
The news comes just days after an Amazon vice president quit in protest over the company’s firings of staffers who spoke out against treatment in warehouses during the crisis.
Tim Bray, identified on LinkedIn as a vice president and “Distinguished Engineer” at Amazon Web Services, said in a blog post on Sunday that he “quit in dismay at Amazon firing whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid- 19.”
In April, scores of Amazon workers planned to not show up for work to put pressure on the company to improve workplace conditions. A month earlier, Amazon terminated an employee based in Staten Island after he participated in a walkout.
Amazon said the employee was supposed to be under quarantine.
It’s unclear how many who are employed by the company have fallen ill, been diagnosed with or died of the coronavirus. The company previously confirmed the death of one worker in California, though it’s unclear how he was infected with the respiratory virus.
In response to the pandemic, Amazon has taken a number of measures to protect workers, including issuing masks and temperature checks.