Amazon UK Workers Get False COVID-19 Test Results

KEY POINTS

Amazon workers were also told to self-isolate for 10 days
U.K. Department of Health and Social Care said affected employees were rapidly informed of the error
Amazon has been testing its workers in the U.K. since October

Thousands of Amazon workers in the U.K. received wrong COVID-19 test results after an error by contact tracers, leading to confusion and even income loss for their family members who had to isolate.

Nearly 4,000 Amazon staff members had tested negative for the coronavirus, but received notifications on Saturday that they had tested positive. They were also asked to self-isolate for 10 days by the National Health Service Test and Trace.

The U.K. Department of Health and Social Care said it quickly resolved the error and the employees were informed of the erroneous results. It added that NHS Test and Trace notified affected employees to let them know they did not need to isolate.

It is not yet clear how the mistake occurred. The test-and-trace system has been criticized since its launch last year and concerns have been raised over the use of outsourced call center staff to carry out the roles of clinically trained staff, according to The Guardian.

Amazon has been testing its frontline workers in the U.K. since October. It shares the results with Public Health England, which in turn sends the data to NHS Test and Trace.

The company said it followed NHS instructions to ensure all workers were made aware of the error and supported to take "appropriate action steps.”

Family members of Amazon staff, who were added as contacts, reported an income loss after informing their workplaces that they had to isolate.

Meanwhile in the U.S., Amazon has been sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James for allegedly failing to safeguard its warehouse employees in the state from COVID-19. The complaint pointed to the company's "flagrant disregard" of steps needed to protect its workers from the coronavirus at a Staten Island fulfillment center and a Queens distribution center.

This came just days after Amazon filed a lawsuit against James, saying she lacks the legal authority to regulate workplace safety issues. James called it "nothing more than a sad attempt to distract from the facts and shirk accountability for its failures to protect hardworking employees from a deadly virus."

She began investigating Amazon last year following protests by workers at the company's warehouse on Staten Island over Amazon's COVID-19 response.