Amazon has confirmed that several employees at its sortation center in Mobile have tested positive for COVID-19, even as the company maintains it is taking steps to protect workers on site. A company spokesperson acknowledged this week that cases have occurred at the Mobile facility, though he declined to provide a specific total.
The spokesperson said Amazon has worked to slow the spread of the virus inside the facility, notify affected employees and support workers who become sick. The company noted it is supporting employees who are recovering and that ensuring the health and safety of its workforce remains its top priority. Amazon has said it expects to spend roughly $4 billion companywide between April and June on COVID-19 related initiatives aimed at getting products to customers while keeping employees safe.
According to the company, about $800 million of that spending is earmarked specifically for safety measures inside its facilities, including additional personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning protocols, redesigned process paths that allow for greater social distancing between workers, and the eventual rollout of in-house COVID-19 testing capabilities.
Amazon has said company policy calls for notifying employees at a facility whenever a case is confirmed there, and that practice has played out at the Mobile site in a series of text alerts sent to workers in recent weeks. One employee, who asked that her name not be used, shared copies of several of those messages.
The first notification went out to employees on April 11, informing them of a confirmed case of COVID-19 at the facility. That message outlined safety measures already in place and explained that any workers who might have been exposed to the infected employee would be contacted individually. Weeks later, on May 5, the same employee received another alert confirming two additional cases. At least four more cases were confirmed through follow-up texts sent since May 8.
Word of additional cases has also spread through informal channels. Last week, the family of another employee at the sortation center posted on social media that a relative connected to the facility had tested positive for COVID-19, urging fellow Amazon workers to get tested as well. Based on the timeline of the company’s prior notifications, that case would represent roughly the sixth or seventh confirmed infection tied to the facility, though the employee who shared the text messages said she believes the true number could be higher.
“We have gotten several texts now saying that there has been positive cases, but we are not told an exact number,” she said. “They used to put a new case or two cases. Now they just say ‘additional cases’… not implying how many there are at this point. We don’t know who they are or what shift they work, and I find it very unlikely that they can tell who exactly they would have come in contact with.”
That employee said she has not personally been notified of any possible exposure to a co-worker who tested positive, but said the uncertainty has left her and other workers uneasy despite the safety measures Amazon has put in place. She said she sought time off over concerns that a close family member could face serious complications from COVID-19, but was told she would need to test positive for the virus herself before qualifying for that leave.
Another employee said she experienced a similar situation before ultimately testing positive herself. She is currently on paid leave and recovering at home. In a statement, Amazon said the company provides additional paid time off for any employee diagnosed with COVID-19. The company also said workers who come into close contact with a confirmed case are asked to self-quarantine at home for 14 days and are compensated during that period as well.
The Mobile facility is one of many Amazon sites nationwide that have reported employee COVID-19 cases as the company has scaled up operations to meet a surge in online orders during the pandemic. Workers at fulfillment and sortation centers across the country have raised similar concerns about transparency and the pace of safety improvements, even as Amazon has pointed to its broader investment in protective measures as evidence it is taking the outbreak seriously.