In the following post, you will read my opinion about the article ‘Almost 20,000 Amazon workers in US test positive for Covid19’. You will read what I think about it, how I look at it, what Amazon should have done, and so on. The text is divided into 3 titles: ‘20,000 Amazon workers in the US have contracted Covid-19’, ‘3,17% of the workers presumed to have caught Covid-19 and that doubles the rate of infection in the broader population’ and the last part is that Amazon is, in my eyes, a threat to public health.
20,000 Amazon workers in the US have contracted Covid-19
First, even though there were a lot of activists who, for months, demanded public disclosure, Amazon didn’t listen and kept their warehouses open. Of course, consequently 20,000 Amazon workers in the US got infected by Covid-19. Clearly they don’t care about their staff. They only care about making profit, especially in times like this when everyone switches to online shopping.
Obviously they have faced criticism from labour campaigners. By keeping their warehouses open, they’ve put a lot of their employees in danger.
3,17% of the workers presumed to have caught Covid-19 and that doubles the rate of infection in the broader population
Secondly, as before said, they only care about making profit. Amazon said that its analysis came out that the rate of infection among 1.4 million workers at Amazon and its Whole Foods subsidiary was 42% lower than the rate expected based on the broader US population.
However, when we take a look at a state-by-state breakdown of the cases, it shows us that the highest rate of infection of Amazon employees was in Minnesota, where 3.17% of Amazon workers have caught Covid-19 and that doubles the rate of infection in the broader population. That is just unbelievable!
It is obvious that Amazon doesn’t realise the consequences of their actions and despite the fact that the data doesn’t give absolute numbers of infected workers in each state or the fact that workers in warehouses were or were not more vulnerable, it is very clear that Amazon didn’t took any precautions to lower the risk of getting a Covid-19 infection. That is, in my opinion, just really irresponsible and selfish.
Amazon is, in my eyes, a threat to public health
Last, Amazon is really (in my eyes) a threat to public health. Athena’s director, Dania Rajendra, said in a statement: “Amazon allowed Covid-19 to spread like wildfire in its facilities, risking the health of tens of thousands of people who work at Amazon – as well as their family members, neighbours and friends”.
Undoubtedly, mrs. Rajendra is right. When Amazon’s staff get infected by Covid-19, not only are they in danger, but they put others also in danger like their family, their friends, other citizens and so on…. For example when an employee leaves the warehouse, he has to take the bus. On the bus, there are a lot of other citizens who could also get infected. When the employee goes to the store, same story…
On the other hand….
There is also an other side on this story… On the other hand, it is not that easy to just close your business because of financial issues. But of course, the health of your employees are much more important than your business, especially when you’re such a big company. Amazon has enough money to take better precautions and to create a healthier work environment.
In conclusion
So, in conclusion, Amazon puts the health of their staff in danger by keeping their warehouses open. Almost 20,000 of Amazon workers in the US have contracted Covid-19. 3.17% of Amazon workers have caught Covid-19 and that doubles the rate of infection in the broader population. Amazon is, in no uncertain terms, a threat to public health.
My opinion is that Amazon should have or should start taking better precautions to lower the risk of getting an infection by Covid-19. They should start acting responsible to assure the health of their staff and their family/friends. They also should start taking a look at the actual (high) rates of infection in the population. Only then, it would be a good (big) company.
Source: Jolly J. (2020, October 2). Almost 20,000 Amazon workers in the US test positive for Covid-19. Consulted on October 3th from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/oct/02/almost-20000-amazon-workers-in-us-test-positive-for-covid-19
