Another Amazon warehouse employee, this time one in northeast Illinois, has passed away due to COVID-19, company officials confirmed Wednesday. Reports reveal at least four workers of the e-commerce juggernaut have died.
The employee, who worked at Amazon's Waukegan, Illinois, warehouse, known as MDW8, died of the disease April 18, according to information shared with CNBC. The worker, who was 50 years old, left behind a wife and five children, as well as two stepchildren. The victim worked the night shift as a picker, a job that entails selecting Amazon items from shelves at fulfillment centers and preparing them for shipping.
“We are saddened by the loss of an associate at our site in Waukegan, Illinois,” Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski told CNBC in a statement. “His family and loved ones are in our thoughts, and we are supporting his fellow colleagues.”
The 50-year-old’s death adds to a number of Amazon warehouse employees who have died as they continued to work amid the coronavirus outbreak. The worker’s death comes as Amazon warehouse employees have raised concerns that the company isn’t doing enough to protect them from catching the coronavirus while they’re on the job. Employees have also criticized how Amazon handles positive cases at its facilities, with some arguing it should shut down those warehouses and do more to make sure employees are informed.
Amazon has made changes, but the number of workers diagnosed with the virus continues to climb. Amazon has not confirmed the number of deaths from the virus, but the Illinois worker marks the fourth known case of an Amazon worker who has died from the virus, following reports of deaths in Staten Island, New York; Hawthorne, California, and Tracy, California.
Several Amazon employees, some facing termination, have spoken out and protested the conditions at Amazon warehouses across the country.
On Monday, a prominent engineer and vice president of Amazon’s cloud computing arm said he had quit “in dismay” about the recent firings of workers who had raised questions about workplace safety during the coronavirus pandemic.
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