In spite of spring up federal demand for transparentness regarding the numeral of covid-19 exposures among the second - big U.S. work force , Amazon ’s stance so far can be largely characterized as “ fuck you , make me . ” Unsurprisingly , this disdain is extending to local - level concern , too — now most urgently in Kenosha , Wisconsin .
Lack of company - provide data has led to Amazon workers themselves attempting to track the number of case among their workforce across the country . The unflattering ( if informal ) total they ’ve reached now stands at1,349 case and nine deaths . With New York City still claiming the in question honour as the nation ’s epicentre for the virus , storage warehouse in the Northeast have been hit specially hard ; outside this realm , a fulfilment center and a sorting center of attention in Kenosha make up the worst - stumble Amazon campus with at least 32 cases so far , harmonise to theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel .
If , for whatever reason , provide information on contagion rates publicly seems like an undue burden to put on Amazon , one might expect the party to at least be sharing apt info privately with officials . fit in to exactly those office , that ’s not happening . Jen Freiheit , the wellness officer for Kenosha County , recount the Journal Sentinel that Amazon has not provide her office with the entire identification number of exposures or aid in contact trace efforts by allow contact lists for septic workers .
Photo: Getty
Amazon has also claimed to be reviewing security footage military post - ratification to determine if other workers spent extended metre near covid - positive person as a shape of contact tracing . Despite apparently take this data on hand , in many cases , it has n’t been provided to official , agree to the Journal Sentinel .
Freiheit is now regard shutting down the readiness if the company remains recalcitrant .
In a statement to Gizmodo , Amazon said it had begun testing worker at some of its sites for covid-19 , and would “ shortly ” start offer tests to employees at the Kenosha installation . “ Nothing is more important to us than the wellness and safety of our employee and we receive a visit from the Kenosha County Health Department to see the investments we ’ve made in safety , including raise daily cleaning , temperature check , mandatory mask , and societal distancing measures , ” the company said .
As mentioned , however , Amazon ’s track record of ignore ormisleadinglawmakers runs deep . report over the old age has paint a picture of the party ’s warehouses as exceptionally insecure , with worker anecdote increasingly supported by hard data fromOSHA logs . Calls from lawmakers to free web - wide harm information have been blown off .
Now the same infantile dynamic is playing out anew amid a global pandemic . Two letter requesting appendage reform and additional data point ( one from SenatorsBooker , Menendez , Sanders , and Brown ; the other from House membersTlaib and Dingell ) have so far had no detectable impact . It ’s difficult to see how refuse to join forces with health officials now — now!—isn’t , at best , reckless endangerment of Amazon ’s worker and the communities they live in .
AmazonJeff Bezos
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