Amazon told GeekWire on Wednesday that an employee who worked from its Seattle headquarters tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) this week.
The employee reportedly went home sick on February 25 before testing positive for COVID-19 at a later date. Amazon told GeekWire it is "supporting the affected employee who is in quarantine" and that it notified other workers of the diagnosis.
- Coronavirus tech show cancellations: what’s gone, what’s still on
- We asked a doctor: Can you get coronavirus from a package?
- Help cure coronavirus with your PC's leftover processing power
Amazon told GeekWire that it's performing "enhanced deep cleaning and sanitization” at the affected office. It also reportedly told employees that if they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to not to come into work for the time being.
Unfortunately it seems that getting tested for COVID-19 can be more difficult than expected, as one Seattle resident said on Twitter. The tweets inspired a thread on the Seattle subreddit that includes testimony from users backing up the claims.
The CDC said on its website that COVID-19 is mainly transmitted "between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet)" and "through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes."
"It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes," the CDC said, "but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads."
