Amazon Orders New York and New Jersey Employees to Work from Home over Coronavirus Fears

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos provides the keynote address at the Air Force As
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

E-commerce giant Amazon has reportedly told its employees in New York and New Jersey to work from home over fears of the spread of Wuhan coronavirus.

CNBC reports that e-commerce giant Amazon has instructed its employees in its New York and New Jersey offices to work from home until the end of the month due to fears relating to the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus. Employees were informed on Monday that they should work from home.

Amazon’s audiobook company, Audible, is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Thousands of Amazon workers are also employed in New York City including employees at Amazon Web Services and members of the company’s sales and marketing teams.

Amazon instructed its employees in the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle area to work from home last week, multiple other Silicon Valley tech firms took similar measures including Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Amazon’s decision came shortly after one of its workers in its Seattle offices tested positive for the coronavirus.

An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement:

We continue to work closely with public and private medical experts to ensure we are taking the right precautions as the situation continues to evolve. This includes recommending that employees who are able to work from home in Seattle/Bellevue, the Bay Area, New York, New Jersey and the Lombardy region/Asti province of Italy do so through the end of March.

The tech giant restricted all nonessential travel in the U.S. last month in response to the spread of the virus. A growing number of companies have urged employees to work from home, Salesforce recently asked its California employees to work remotely, while Microsoft instructed employees in the Bay Area in California and the Puget Sound area of Washington to work from home.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com

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