Amazon has confirmed the first case of novel coronavirus among its U.S. workforce.
The infected employee, according to Bloomberg, left work last month “due to an illness.” Amazon was informed Tuesday that the person had contracted COVID-19.
Co-workers in contact with the staffer—at Amazon’s South Lake Union office complex in Seattle—have been notified.
“We’re supporting the affected employee who is in quarantine,” the firm told Geek.com in an email.
Two Amazon employees in Milan, Italy, also contracted the virus.
Like so many of its industry counterparts, Amazon is taking great precautions to avoid spreading the disease.
The tech titan is limiting nonessential travel within the US and cancelling warehouse tours, and has begun conducting job interviews virtually, avoiding in-person contact when possible.
The first U.S. case of novel coronavirus was detected in January: A Washington state man in his 30s, recently returned from Wuhan, China, where the outbreak is believed to have originated.
Seattle, the state’s largest city and home of Amazon HQ, has become COVID-19 ground zero in the US: More than 20 people have been infected, and eight have died in the wider King County area, Bloomberg reported, citing the local department of health.
Firefighters and emergency responders who transported infected patients are now in quarantine; some schools have closed for sterilization and stores are running low on hand sanitizer and face masks.
Identified in December, novel coronavirus was linked to a wholesale animal and fish market in Wuhan, the largest city in central China. Symptoms include fever, cough, and trouble breathing (which are also handily associated with chest infection, bronchitis, pneumonia, and a number of other diagnoses).
To date, there have been more than 92,000 infections and 3,160 deaths attributed to the virus, Bloomberg said.
More on Geek.com:
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- WHO Joins TikTok to Curb Coronavirus Misinformation
- Facebook Bans Misleading Coronavirus Ads
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