Amazon confirmed on Tuesday that an employee who works in one of its Seattle offices has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus and is under quarantine.
The worker does not work at Amazon’s headquarters but rather at one of its other corporate offices in Seattle. The employee went home from work early on Feb. 25 and has not been in the office since then, the company said in a memo. It added that employees “who we know were in close contact with this employee” have been notified, and that others are at “low risk” of transmission.
The e-tail behemoth asked employees to stay home if they feel unwell or may be experiencing coronavirus symptoms.
In the U.S., there have been over 100 cases of confirmed coronavirus, including nine fatalities. All of the deaths are in the state of Washington, including eight in King County, where Seattle is located.
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Elsewhere in the Northwest, REI, which is based in Kent, Wash., temporarily shut down three of its corporate campuses this week for a “thorough deep cleaning” as a precautionary step after receiving news that two employees may have been exposed to the coronavirus. About 1,800 employees were told to work remotely through Wednesday, March 4.
Nike closed its Beaverton, Ore., world headquarters last weekend for a deep cleaning after learning of a presumptive coronavirus case in nearby Lake Oswego. The Swoosh also shut its European headquarters in Amsterdam this week, from Monday through Wednesday, after an employee was diagnosed with the virus.
Globally, more than 93,000 people have been sickened, and nearly 3,200 have died. While most of the cases had been limited to China, there are now more than 13,000 infections confirmed outside of China, a threefold increase from a week ago.
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