Covid-19: Amazon wants to innovate its way out of the pandemic

Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon fulfillment center employee, holds a sign during a protest outside an Amazon.com facility in the Staten Island borough of New York, US. When the coronavirus began to disrupt Amazon’s operations and sicken its workforce in March, the company mostly threw people at the problem – hiring 175,000 workers to handle a surge in online orders and sub in for employees sheltering at home. — Bloomberg

Some workers at Amazon.com Inc’s Troutdale, Oregon, warehouse think of the coronavirus testing pilot in their facility as a sort of lottery. Managers have been reaching out to employees this month and, with their permission, testing them for the disease.

The self-administered tests, offered as a nasal swab or saliva sample, are shipped to labs under contract with Amazon. Eventually, if things go to plan, the samples may fly in Amazon cargo jets to a lab the company is setting up near its main air freight hub in northern Kentucky.