Amazon Worker At Eastvale Facility Tests Positive For COVID-19
EASTVALE (CBSLA) – An Amazon worker at a fulfillment center in the Riverside County city of Eastvale tested positive for coronavirus, the second such confirmed case among Amazon employees in the Inland Empire.
Amazon confirmed to CBS2 Sunday that the employee was recovering.
Any employees who came into close contact with the patient have been sent home and asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. They will be given full sick pay during this time, Amazon said.
Last week, a worker at an Amazon fulfillment center in Moreno Valley also tested positive for coronavirus. Following the news, a fellow employee at the Moreno Valley facility told CBS2 that Amazon is not doing enough to protect workers.
"They care about money, not their people," Amazon employee Laura Williamson said. "But, we robots, or I mean associates, are what keeps that business running."
Amazon told CBS2 it has taken multiple preventative safety and health measures to mitigate the spread of the virus, including sanitizing its buildings thoroughly, staggering shifts and breaks and enacting social distancing requirements.
Earlier this month, Amazon informed third-party sellers that its fulfillment centers will only accept shipments of medical supplies and household staples because of the extremely high-demand for those items. It also announced it was looking to hire a staggering 100,000 new workers.
The Inland Empire has thousands of distribution warehouses, and almost all of Southern California's essential items pass through the facilities every day.
Riverside County reported Monday it has 291 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including nine deaths.