Amazon Employee Tests Positive for Coronavirus

By Nathaniel Mott
published

An employee in Amazon's headquarters tested positive for coronavirus.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Amazon told GeekWire (opens in new tab) 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.

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 (opens in new tab) on Twitter. The tweets inspired a thread (opens in new tab) on the Seattle subreddit that includes testimony from users backing up the claims.

The CDC said on its website (opens in new tab) 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."

Nathaniel Mott
Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

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22 Comments Comment from the forums
  • laptop-Tech
    oof
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin
    Amazon's stock took an unepected rise at the beginning of February ahead of the general market trend, and maintained a % growth that outpaced the market.

    Wanna bet is going to happen next? No one is going to want to touch an amazon package.
    Reply
  • laptop-Tech
    yup
    Reply
  • King_V
    digitalgriffin said:
    Amazon's stock took an unepected rise at the beginning of February ahead of the general market trend, and maintained a % growth that outpaced the market.

    Wanna bet is going to happen next? No one is going to want to touch an amazon package.
    Yep, sounds about right...
    Reply
  • laptop-Tech
    King_V said:
    Yep, sounds about right...
    completely
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    COVID-19 must be spreading asymptomatic in many more places than we know. I think it's going to go the way of the H1N1 pandemic and just become a nastier version of the yearly flu outbreak. I don't think governments are going to be able to contain COVID-19 at this point -- it's not getting stopped by quarantine efforts, and quarantines are not being enforced properly everywhere.

    I think we're a week away from someone in an industry that doesn't provide sick leave showing symptoms and infecting a ton of people in a major US city -- specifically Seattle. There are lessons to be learned here, again, but leaders didn't learn them back with H1N1.
    Reply
  • justin.m.beauvais
    digitalgriffin said:
    Wanna bet is going to happen next? No one is going to want to touch an amazon package.
    Lower demand means lower prices... hmmmm. I have been wanting a few things. Just going to have to make merry with the hand sanitizer.
    Reply
  • King_V
    bigdragon said:
    COVID-19 must be spreading asymptomatic in many more places than we know. I think it's going to go the way of the H1N1 pandemic and just become a nastier version of the yearly flu outbreak. I don't think governments are going to be able to contain COVID-19 at this point -- it's not getting stopped by quarantine efforts, and quarantines are not being enforced properly everywhere.

    I think we're a week away from someone in an industry that doesn't provide sick leave showing symptoms and infecting a ton of people in a major US city -- specifically Seattle. There are lessons to be learned here, again, but leaders didn't learn them back with H1N1.

    Yeah, seems like just a reinforcement of "we're gonna half-ass it because we were short-sighted and selfish" and then we have a huge problem.

    This is not just at the job level, but clearly, at least in the US and China, on the government level. Either saving face, or justifying personal greed, were the altars upon which health-safety was sacrificed.


    Or, to put it squarely on the typical attitude of too many of us in the US: "Heh, see? China doesn't have any of them pesky government regulations! Why can't we be the same?"

    Be careful what you wish for...
    Reply
  • Giroro
    Seattle should bring back plastic grocery bags, they are way more resistant to carrying disease than the wet canvas and paper bags that everyone is forced to buy and carry around.

    bigdragon said:
    I think we're a week away from someone in an industry that doesn't provide sick leave showing symptoms and infecting a ton of people in a major US city -- specifically Seattle. There are lessons to be learned here, again, but leaders didn't learn them back with H1N1.
    Seattle companies are usually pretty good about giving sick leave, but the city is behind the curve on adopting toxic Silicon Valley Techbro culture - so nobody who wants to keep their job will actually use that leave under any circumstances.
    Also, the problems caused the city supporting densely-packed homeless encampments are real and dangerous.
    Reply
  • thisisaname
    justin.m.beauvais said:
    Lower demand means lower prices... hmmmm. I have been wanting a few things. Just going to have to make merry with the hand sanitizer.
    Fine if you can get some!
    Reply