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Amazon (AMZN) to Boost Worker Safety With Testing Lab Facility

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Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) is leaving no stone unturned to keep its workers and employees safe from COVID-19 infection. This is evident from its latest step of building an in-house COVID-19 testing lab.

Notably, the company is aggressively looking to develop a diagnostic test for detection of coronavirus in its workers .

The company has already started collecting and assembling equipments that are required for the testing lab.

Moreover, it has dedicated a special team that comprises of program managers, procurement specialists, research scientists and software engineers, for this purpose.

The latest move bodes well for the company’s growing initiatives toward strengthening testing capacity, which is very crucial amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Further, it will help the company reassure workers who have been protesting regarding coronavirus protection.

Strong Safety Measures for Workers

We note that Amazon is continuously making efforts to ensure the welfare of its workers amid the coronavirus-induced crisis.

Apart from the latest move, it is reportedly in talks with two medical companies — Abbott Laboratories (ABT - Free Report) and Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO - Free Report) regarding ways to screen its warehouse workers and reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection.

In fact, Amazon is trying for a testing technique that can screen more than one worker at a time. Additionally, the company is aggressively looking into a deal with a medical organization to bolster its testing efforts.

Further, workers across the company’s U.S. and European warehouses will start receiving face masks and temperature checking instruments soon.

Furthermore, the company has piloted disinfectant fogging at its fulfillment centers, sortation centers and delivery stations.

In regard to workers’ safety, the company has implemented more than 150 significant process changes across its sites worldwide to date.

All the abovementioned endeavours will aid the company in retaining its workers during this crisis, which is crucial at this point of time. Moreover, these measures will help the company in mitigating the risk of spreading COVID-19 among its workforce.

To Conclude

Amazon is witnessing flurry of online orders, owing to mandatory self-isolation as a result of this pandemic.

However, the company is facing hurdles in delivering the packages on time due to its vast but constant delivery capacity. Moreover, the spreading COVID-19 infection among workers remains a headwind.

Notably, around 64 workers across the company’s warehouses and shipping facilities have tested positive.

Nevertheless, Amazon’s growing initiatives to ensure safety of the workers remain noteworthy. Further, safe workers at its warehouses will help Amazon in meeting the increasing customer demand during this panic-shopping scenario.

This, in turn, is likely to instill investor optimism in the stock amid this coronavirus-induced crisis.

Zacks Rank & a Stock to Consider

Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A better-ranked stocks in the retail-wholesale sector that can be considered is eBay (EBAY - Free Report) which carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Long-term earnings growth rate for eBay is pegged at 11.56%.

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