Amazon to do fever checks, give masks to workers

Actions come after employees protest over working conditions

Amazon will institute temperature checks for employees and offer masks to protect them as they work during the coronavirus pandemic. The company said it is checking 100,000 workers per day for fevers, and plans to roll out checks across their U.S. and European operations network and Whole Foods Market stores by early next week. Amazon also said masks will be available at some locations by Thursday and at all locations by early next week. Any N95 masks, which have filters to better protect wearers, will be donated to frontline health care workers or made available to health care and government organizations through Amazon Business. “Whether it’s fulfilling orders in one of our fulfillment centers, delivering an order to a customer’s doorstep, or one of the many roles in between, I couldn’t be more proud of the critical role our teams are serving by enabling people to stay safe at home while receiving the products they need,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, in a statement Thursday. The changes arrive as some Amazon workers expressed concerns over how well the company is working to keep them safe. On Monday, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, walked out demanding Amazon address issues with social distancing and properly sanitized work environments. Workers at Instacart and Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon, staged similar protests. As Americans remain home to prevent the spread of coronavirus, they have relied heavily on delivery services including Amazon to receive essential goods. Amazon is among several companies seeking to hire thousands of new workers to meet demand. As of Thursday, more than 5,000 people in the U.S. have died of the coronavirus.