Amazon Ends On-Site Covid Testing for Warehouse Workers



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The company informed workers that it would stop offering onsite testing after July 30, according to a notification Amazon shared with workers in its employee app, called A to Z, viewed by CNN Business. The company cited that Covid-19 tests and vaccines are now widely available.

Amazon (AMZN) confirmed to CNN Business that it will begin scaling back its testing operations in the United States by that date. The company did not immediately respond to whether it would offer workers time off to get tested, if necessary.
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The change comes as workers continue to receive notifications from the company about confirmed cases of the virus inside facilities and amid the increasing spread of the Delta variant. Amazon said it could resume its employee testing program at any time if necessary. In February, the company said its new Covid-19 testing lab in Kentucky had processed more than a million tests for frontline workers at more than 700 testing sites.

For Amazon, workplace safety has been a hot topic since the start of the pandemic. In October, Amazon said more than 19,000 of its frontline U.S. employees at Amazon and Whole Foods had tested positive or presumed positive for the coronavirus. It was the first time the company shed light on how its workforce had been affected by Covid-19 after months of internal and external pressure for more transparency.

The company has frequently touted its more than 150 safety-related updates to ensure the health and safety of its employees, some of whom have started to withdraw in recent months. At the end of May, Amazon informed workers that it would lift its mask mandate for its fully vaccinated warehouse workers. The change came after guidelines from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fully vaccinated people can dispense with masks in most circumstances as long as it complies with workplace and company policies. local.

Amazon announced earlier this year that its frontline workers can receive $ 40 per dose of vaccine as compensation for time spent getting vaccinated offsite. At the end of March, the company started offering on-site vaccinations for employees in some locations.

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