Amazon confirmed that an undisclosed number of its employees tested positive for COVID-19 at the company’s warehouse in San Marcos.
A date indicating when employees were confirmed positive was not specified in a May 20 email from Amazon to The Star. Due to HIPPA laws, it is also unclear whether or not the confirmed cases of Amazon employees were counted in any of Hays County’s lab-confirmed case reports.
Amazon spokesperson Jen Crowcroft said the following: We are supporting the individuals who are recovering. Our top concern is ensuring the health and safety of our employees, and we expect to invest approximately $4 billion from April to June on COVID-related initiatives to get products to customers and keep employees safe. This includes spending more than $800 million in the first half of the year on COVID-19 safety measures, with investments in personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning of our facilities, less efficient process paths that better allow for effective social distancing, higher wages for hourly teams, and developing our own COVID-19 testing capabilities, etc.
The email states when a COVID-19 case is confirmed in one of Amazon’s locations, the company communicates the news to all individuals who work at the site. It says Amazon asks those who had close contact with an individual infected with COVID-19 to not return to the site and self-quarantine for 14 days.
The company’s website states when one of its employees is diagnosed with COVID-19, she or he receives two weeks of paid time off in addition to their other paid and unpaid time off options.
The Star will provide more information as it is made available.