Amazon Confirms 19,800 Workers Had Coronavirus, 42% Less Than General Public

Amazon announced Thursday that more than 19,800 of its workers at Amazon and Whole Foods have tested positive or been presumed positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

In a blog post, Amazon said that it did a "thorough analysis of data" on its nearly 1.4 million Amazon and Whole Foods Market front-line workers across the U.S. who were employed between March 1 to Sept. 19.

According to the company's calculations, its infection rate is 42% lower than expected compared to case rates involving the general population during the same period.

"Based on this analysis, if the rate among Amazon and Whole Foods Market employees were the same as it is for the general population rate, we estimate that we would have seen 33,952 cases among our workforce," the company wrote. "In reality, 19,816 employees have tested positive or been presumed positive for COVID-19 — 42% lower than the expected number."

The e-commerce giant also revealed testing thousands of its employees for the coronavirus daily, with aims of reaching 50,000 tests a day by November. The 50,000 daily test would cover only 3.6% of its total workforce.

The announcement offers the first national overview of how the pandemic has affected Amazon's workforce after the company repeatedly refused to share comprehensive data with the public and its own employees, CNN reported.

Amazon has had numerous confirmed cases at its warehouses across the U.S. and worldwide. However, it has downplayed the importance of releasing data, making it difficult for the public and health officials to determine the overall infections at its sites.

At least 10 of the company's warehouse employees who tested positive for COVID-19 died. Employees at various Amazon and Whole Foods locations have joined walkouts in protest of workplace conditions.

Amazon said it enlisted the help of several of the world's top epidemiology doctors to support its 5,000-member global safety team in planning and to implement process changes to ensure their employees' health and safety.

The data on COVID-19 infections comes as the multinational company prepares for its Prime Day sales event on Oct. 13 and 14. Amazon said it planned to hire 100,000 additional employees across its operations network last month.