LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – One of Amazon’s massive e-commerce warehouses in Shepherdsville, Ky. closed Monday for a 48-hour break after three cases of COVID-19 were confirmed “at the site,” according to a voicemail message sent to employees and obtained by WDRB.
In the message, the speaker identifies himself as Matt Greene, the general manager of the Shepherdsville warehouse known as SDF-9, and says the closure started at 5 p.m. Monday. Operations are to resume with the night shift scheduled for Wednesday, March 25.
Greene said the associates who tested positive for the disease caused by novel coronavirus “are receiving medical care while in quarantine and we are supporting them at this time.”
“They won’t be allowed back into the building until they are symptom-free,” Greene said in the employee message.
Amazon is following U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention guidelines in identifying other people the infected may have had contact and notifying them, “if needed,” Greene said in the voicemail.
Seattle-based Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday evening.
Jennifer Bohannon, who works at SDF-9, said she was “appalled and disappointed” to learn that the warehouse is shutting down for only two days.
“The concern is, how many are walking around (the building) now, asymptomatic?” she said, referring to employees that may be spreading the virus without knowing it.
Amazon last week confirmed its first COVID-19 case in its shipping network at a facility in Queens, New York, according to Bloomberg.
Last week announced it wants to hire 100,000 workers and is boosting pay by $2 an hour as it receives a surge of orders because many physical stores are closed.
The SDF-9 facility processes returns, Bohannon said.
