Amazon may soon begin screening its employees for coronavirus

Online retail giant Amazon is reportedly in talks with several medical labs regarding the possibility of procuring coronavirus tests for its workers, a development that comes after the company has confirmed that numerous workers have tested positive for the disease. 

Amazon has been in touch with officials from both Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Abbott Laboratories about the possibility of getting tests at its shipping warehouses across the country. Abbott confirmed that it had been in talks with the company on Friday afternoon. 

The company will soon be distributing face masks to workers in the United States and Europe. It will also be performing temperature checks on employees to screen out any possible COVID-19 cases. 

Amazon workers in multiple states, including California, Connecticut and Virginia, have tested positive for coronavirus over the past few weeks. The high-traffic, globally connected environment of Amazon warehouses pose a unique challenge for coronavirus mitigation. The virus may be able to live up to 24 hours on cardboard and possibly longer on some other types of surfaces. 

E-commerce has increased significantly since the coronavirus lockdowns began in the United States, with more and more consumers turning to Internet retail as state governors have shuttered "nonessential" businesses and grocery stores have run low on some items.