Woodside Amazon worker tests positive for COVID-19

Anti-Amazon demonstrators attended a hearing at City Hall in January 2019 before the company decided not to go forward with a Long Island City campus. Some Amazon workers expressed concern that conditions in the warehouses are not safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Eagle file photo by Todd Maisel

By Victoria Merlino

A worker at an Amazon warehouse in Woodside has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the company. 

The case in DBK1, Amazon’s Woodside warehouse, is the first reported COVID-19 infection in an Amazon shipping facility in the country. 

“We are supporting the individual who is now in quarantine,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Atlantic, which first reported the news. “In addition to our enhanced daily deep cleaning, we’ve temporarily closed the Queens delivery station for additional sanitation and have sent associates home with full pay.”

The magazine reported that some workers at the warehouse were concerned about continuing to work in close quarters and with the way Amazon is handling itself and its workers during the outbreak. 

Amazon workers across the world report being afraid of the outbreak and concerned about their working conditions, as the demand for delivered goods goes up during the coronavirus pandemic. 

“The 1st known coronavirus case in a U.S. Amazon warehouse was found right in my district,” tweeted local State Sen. Jessica Ramos Thursday. “It's irresponsible of Amazon to withhold this info from other employees who work in close quarters. We can't allow Amazon or ANY employer to do this to their workers.”