Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, tech, and retail giant, Amazon has announced that it is making plans to build its own Coronavirus testing lab. The lab would be used to monitor the health of its large workforce. The company decided to make this move due to the increasing positive cases that have been recorded in its facilities since the virus started to spread in the United States. The team that will be in charge of developing the lab has already been put in place by Amazon.
The decision to build its own testing lab is Amazon’s way of salvaging the messy PR situation it was faced with in March when a worker was fired for starting a protest. The worker accused the organization of not taking the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of its staff during this trying time. The company suffered a major backlash online after the worker was fired. Following the backlash, they published a press release stating that the worker wasn’t terminated because he started the protest but because he put the safety of others in jeopardy and violated the terms of his contract with Amazon. The fact that he terminated social distancing policies was also part of why he was terminated according to the company.
On their official website, Amazon said that it has already made 150 major changes as part of its response to Coronavirus. The development of the testing lab is one such change. They have also been sharing facial masks for all the employees in the sites and grocery stores across the globe. When the testing labs are put in place, employees will be tested regularly whether or not they are showing symptoms. Since there are limited testing resources, the company has decided to create its own labs for testing its employees. After the first lab is built, they will kick-off testing in small numbers and gradually increase the capacity with time.