Amazon says employee in Seattle has coronavirus and remains in quarantine

[xeni]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/03/amazon-says-employee-in-seattl.html

…

[Boingy]

Keeping Amazon running may turn into a National Security issue, since they have driven all the local area retailers out of business, and isolation will depend on them now.

[Papasan]

If only this effected Bezos as much it will the other 99% of Americans.

[wazroth]

Friendly reminder:

Amazon delayed medical help for Joliet warehouse worker who had heart attack,...

[docosc]

@Papasan

If only this effected Bezos as much it will the other 99% of Americans.

Not anywhere near enough 9’s in that statement.

[Headache]

Have you seen the (terrible but good) show on Netflix called You? I’m imagining that’s how Bezos has quarantined the Amazon employee.

Offtopic: It’s going to be interesting to see what the fallout is from SxSW refusing to cancel. Flying 150,000 into Austin and holding giant events for two weeks doesn’t seem like a good idea right now.

[docosc]

Honestly, I will be a little surprised if it actually goes off, but I have been surprised before.

[timd]

[Avery_Thorn]

@Headache

Offtopic: It’s going to be interesting to see what the fallout is from SxSW refusing to cancel. Flying 150,000 into Austin and holding giant events for two weeks doesn’t seem like a good idea right now.

Ugh. The Arnold is going on right now in Columbus; although they have significantly limited the event. (They have canceled the trade show and banned spectators from everything but the finals.) On a normal year, it attracts about 100K people from 50+ countries and every state.

I appreciate having an event like this in our town; the tourism boost is nice… but right now I really, really wish they would have canceled it. If anyone of the 22K athletes and numerous companions are contagious with the virus then it’s going to hit a super hub and get to spread like crazy; not to mention spread it all through the neighborhood as everyone hits the restaurants.

[Pensketch]

@xeni

At least 20 people in the Seattle region have tested positive for COVID-19, and eight have died, state health officials said Tuesday.

Wait. 8 of the 20, or 8 dead and 20 infected? Either way, that sounds less than awesome.

I wonder if this news will cause a dent in the number of people willing to trust having things shipped from Amazon? Or in their stock prices?

[kindall]

There may be a significant upside for Amazon here actually, as people stop going out and shopping at local stores in favor of staying in and ordering online. Coronavirus won’t survive long outside of a host, so packages are safe. Even if the delivery driver is ill, just let the package sit outside a couple of hours. The trick will be keeping fulfillment center workers healthy so those packages can keep going out.

[Garymon]

@Pensketch

Wait. 8 of the 20, or 8 dead and 20 infected?

I just got a news alert on my phone a few minutes ago.

The statewide coronavirus death toll is now at 10.

[docosc]

20 cases with 10 deaths says there are loads of undetected cases floating around. Even considering where this outbreak struck, 50% mortality is just not possible.

[Garymon]

Yes, it seems reasonable that the number of cases is much higher and the estimate will be continually chasing the real number. Also, I’ve heard grumblings about the nursing home procedures being less than ideal to minimize the problem.