Amazon announced this month that it will end on-site Covid-19 testing for US warehouse workers, as it continues to remove pandemic-related safety measures from its facilities.
According to a notification shared with employees in Amazon’s A to Z employee app, which CNN Business reviewed, the company will stop offering on-site testing after July 30. Covid-19 testing and vaccines are now widely available, according to the company.
Amazon (AMZN) confirmed to CNN Business that it will begin reducing its testing operations in the United States by that date. The company did not immediately respond to a question about whether it would provide workers with time off to get tested, if necessary.
The change comes as employees continue to receive company notifications about confirmed cases of the virus inside facilities, as well as the Delta variant’s growing spread. If necessary, Amazon said it could resume its employee testing program at any time. The company announced in February that its newly built Covid-19 testing lab in Kentucky had processed over 1 million tests for frontline employees from over 700 testing sites.
Since the outbreak began, workplace safety has been a hot topic at Amazon. More than 19,000 Amazon and Whole Foods front-line employees in the United States tested positive or were presumed positive for the coronavirus in October. After months of internal and external pressure for more transparency, it was the first time the company revealed how Covid-19 had affected its workforce.
The company has frequently touted its over 150 safety-related updates to ensure the health and safety of its employees, though it has recently begun to back off on some of them. Amazon announced in late May that it would no longer require its fully vaccinated warehouse workers to wear masks. The change came after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidance stating that fully vaccinated people can go without masks in most situations as long as workplace and local business policies allow it.
