Amazon reports case of COVID-19 at Troutdale warehouse

Amazon hosts grand opening at Troutdale robotics facility

Amazon calls its $180 million, 855,000-square-foot Troutdale facility PDX9.Brooke Herbert/The Oregonian

Amazon notified employees Sunday that someone at its massive Troutdale warehouse has contracted COVID-19, at least the third case of the disease at the retailer’s Oregon sites.

Amazon told employees the person with COVID-19 was last at the Troutdale site on Friday, according to three employees.

“We will inform anyone who might have been in close contact, and we will proactively reach out directly to advise of possible exposure,” the company told employees in an electronic message, which a Troutdale worker shared with The Oregonian/OregonLive.

“We are supporting the individual who is recovering,” Amazon spokeswoman Brittany Parmley said in an email Monday. "We are following guidelines from health officials and medical experts, and are taking extreme measures to ensure the safety of employees at our site.

There have been hundreds of COVID-19 cases at Amazon facilities nationwide and the company has come under mounting criticism from workers over allegedly hazardous conditions; last month, an Amazon vice president quit over the company’s treatment of workers who spoke out about the issue.

Amazon said employees diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed in quarantine will receive up to two weeks of pay, in addition to their usual time off. The company said it has made many changes to operations to operations to prevent the virus’ spread, including acquiring masks and gloves, adding handwashing stations and sanitizer, hiring more custodians and adding thermometers and thermal cameras.

Amazon had previously acknowledged coronavirus cases at its Salem warehouse in March and at its Hillsboro warehouse in early April. Dozens of other Oregon employers have also acknowledged COVID-19 cases among their workforces, but aside from major outbreaks at food processors in Albany and Astoria it doesn’t appear there has been large-scale workplace transmission in the state.

Oregon fielded 3,700 complaints through early May about workplace conditions that employees said didn’t provide adequate protections from the coronavirus. Amazon was the subject of 21 of those complaints.

Amazon calls its $180 million, 855,000-square-foot Troutdale facility PDX9. It employed 2,000 before the coronavirus outbreak hit, but Amazon has been expanding during the outbreak to meet growing demand for online ordering.

While tests for the coronavirus remain in short supply nationally, Amazon says it has spent “hundreds of millions” of dollars to develop its own internal testing capacity. PDX9 in Troutdale is among the first places where the company is piloting that program.

It’s not clear if Amazon discovered the COVID-19 case in Troutdale through its own testing program.

This article has been updated with comment from Amazon.

-- Oregonian reporter Everton Bailey contributed to this report.

-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699

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