Amazon COVID-19 Update

* This is a living document that will be updated on a regular basis until it is no longer needed. For the most up-to-date information, please visit the Amazon company blog.

March 13

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A roundup of actions Amazon has taken to reduce the spread of the coronavirus while supporting those directly and indirectly impacted by COVID-19.

By Day One Staff

As a global company, we’re closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19. In addition to those who are affected by the illness, many more are indirectly dealing with changes in their work, school, and community environments. Read a message from our CEO and founder.

Here are some of the ways Amazon is supporting its customers, communities, and employees during this difficult time.

Serving our customers

We believe our role serving customers and the community during this time is a critical one. As COVID-19 has spread, we’ve seen an increase in people shopping online. To serve our customers while also helping to ensure the safety of our associates, we’ve changed our logistics, transportation, supply chain, purchasing, and third-party seller processes to prioritize stocking and delivering items that are a higher priority for our customers. This has resulted in some of our delivery promises being longer than usual. We are also hiring over 100,000 positions across the U.S. to enable us to provide this vital service to people everywhere, especially to those, like the elderly, who are most vulnerable. March 23, 2020

Our customers are counting on us like never before. At every level of our company, we’re working to provide the products and services that our customers and communities need as we face a global pandemic. This includes taking a number of important steps to keep prices fair and protect our customers from those looking to exploit the current crisis. Amazon has zero tolerance for price gouging and longstanding policies and systems to prevent this harmful practice. We’re working vigorously to combat price gouging. Read how. March 23, 2020.

While customers can continue to buy any in-stock product in our store, customers ordering items they don’t need immediately have the opportunity to help others by choosing No-Rush Shipping when this ship option is available. Selecting the No-Rush option enables us to consolidate orders and make fewer stops in neighborhoods throughout the week, and most importantly, serve customers with the most critical needs first. March 17, 2020.

We’re also working to ensure that no one artificially raises prices on basic need products during this pandemic and have blocked or removed tens of thousands of items, in line with our long-standing policy. We actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policy.

To protect customers shopping in our physical retail stores, we’ve enhanced our daily cleaning procedures and are implementing additional nightly cleaning. We continue to educate employees on CDC guidance for maintaining healthy habits, and are offering flexibility for employees who need to stay home, plus paid time off for those who are diagnosed with the virus.

Whole Foods Market is temporarily adjusting store hours to accommodate those identified as among the most vulnerable to COVID-19, according to health authorities. Customers who are age 60 and over in the U.S. and Canada, and age 70 and over in the UK, are invited to shop beginning one hour before the store opens to the general public under the store’s new adjusted hours (example: if a store’s new hours are 9 a.m. – 8 p.m., customers who are age 60 and over can shop starting at 8 a.m.). We are setting aside this time to help these customers feel more comfortable shopping our stores and to help ensure they are able to get the items they need in a less crowded environment. March 18, 2020.

Prime Now, Amazon Fresh, and Whole Foods Market delivery customers always have the option to select “unattended delivery” during checkout if they prefer not to come into contact with others. Orders not containing alcohol are eligible for unattended delivery, and will be left in a location specified by the customer.

Empowering our customers

In addition to serving our retail customers, we’re making sure Amazon Web Services customers have the tools and support they need to keep their businesses and organizations moving forward safely and efficiently.

We are launching the AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative—a program to support customers who are working to bring better, more accurate, diagnostics solutions to market faster and promote better collaboration across organizations that are working on similar problems. As part of this, we are committing an initial investment of $20 million to accelerate diagnostic research, innovation, and development to speed our collective understanding and detection of COVID-19 and other innovate diagnostic solutions to mitigate future infectious disease outbreaks. Funding will be provided through a combination of AWS in-kind credits and technical support to assist our customers’ research teams in harnessing the full potential of the cloud to tackle this challenge. The AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative begins with participation from 35 global research institutions, startups, and businesses focused on tackling this challenge. Read more. March 20, 2020.

Caring for our employees

We are opening 100,000 new full and part-time positions across the U.S. in our fulfillment centers and delivery network to meet the surge in demand from people relying on Amazon’s service during this stressful time, particularly those most vulnerable to being out in public. We also know many people have been economically impacted as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants, and travel are lost or furloughed as part of this crisis. We want those people to know we welcome them on our teams until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back. In addition to the 100,000 new roles we’re creating, we want to recognize our employees who are playing an essential role for people at a time when many of the services that might normally be there to support them are closed. In the U.S., we will be adding an additional $2 USD per hour worked through April from our current rate of $15/hour or more, depending on the region, C$2 in Canada, £2 per hour in the UK, and approximately €2 per hour in many EU countries. This commitment to increased pay through the end of April represents an investment of over $350 million in increased compensation for hourly employees across the U.S., Europe, and Canada. Read more. March 16, 2020.

In light of ongoing international COVID-19 developments, we now recommend that all global employees who work in a role that can be done from home, do so through April 10. Every team is different and not all jobs are conducive to working from home. Employees and partners whose work requires their physical presence in their workplace, have access to all of their usual paid and unpaid time-off benefits.

All Amazon employees diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine will receive up to two weeks of pay. This additional pay while away from work is to ensure employees have the time they need to return to good health without the worry of lost income. This is in addition to unlimited unpaid time off for all hourly employees through the end of March. Read more. March 11, 2020.

We are establishing the Amazon Relief Fund, with a $25 million initial contribution, focused on supporting our independent delivery service partners and their drivers, Amazon Flex participants, and seasonal employees under financial distress during this challenging time. We will be offering all of these groups the ability to apply for grants approximately equal to up to two weeks of pay if diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine. Going forward, this fund will support our employees and contractors around the world who face financial hardships. Applicants may apply and receive a personal grant from the fund ranging from $400 to $5,000 per person. Read more. March 11, 2020.

We paused our fulfillment center public tours program, cancelled large events, and changed the majority of our job interviews to virtual interviews rather than in-person interviews, which often require travel. At the same time, we increased our cleaning of all facilities globally, including regular sanitization of all door handles, stairway handrails, elevator buttons, lockers, and touch screens. February 28, 2020.

Supporting our community

Amazon has donated $1 million to kick-start emergency COVID-19 response funds that will immediately benefit the four largest Washington D.C. region community foundations that are working to support vulnerable populations impacted amid the coronavirus outbreak. The donation will be used to provide resources to organizations working with communities disproportionately impacted by coronavirus and the economic consequences of the outbreak—including hourly workers, people experiencing homelessness, and the elderly. Amazon is also providing additional cash and in-kind support to five food service providers in the Washington D.C. region. Read more. March 18, 2020.

We created a $5 million Neighborhood Small Business Relief Fund to provide cash grants to Seattle-area small businesses that need assistance to get through economic challenges related to COVID-19. The fund is intended for businesses with fewer than 50 employees or less than $7 million in annual revenue. Businesses with a physical presence within a few blocks of Amazon’s office buildings in the Regrade and South Lake Union areas, that are open to the general public, and are reliant on foot traffic for customers, are eligible for the grants. Additionally, we are subsidizing two full months of rent for tenants in the buildings Amazon owns. Read more. March 10, 2020.

Amazon contributed $1 million to a new Seattle Foundation fund for community members affected by COVID-19. The fund will provide flexible resources to nonprofits and community-based organizations working with those who are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus and the economic consequences of the outbreak. Initial grants will support organizations helping those who don’t have sick leave or health insurance, medically fragile individuals, and healthcare workers. Read more. March 9, 2020.

We are continuing to pay all hourly staff who work for the service providers that support our offices around the world—from food-service workers to security guards to janitorial staff. March 6, 2020.

Now and always, our Amazon Future Engineer program is focused on increasing access to computer science education for hundreds of thousands of students and teachers. As classrooms across the U.S. experience educational disruption during the pandemic, Amazon Future Engineer will initially provide free access to our sponsored computer science courses in the United States. These courses are for independent learners from 6th to 12th grade, or teachers who are teaching remotely to this age group. Amazon Future Engineer will grant teachers and students access shortly after they complete their applications, which can be found at amazonfutureengineer.com. March 15, 2020.

We’re leveraging our fulfillment network to support nonprofits and relief organizations in the Puget Sound area that are on the front lines of the outbreak. We are donating gift cards and helping to purchase items on Amazon.com on behalf of the organizations who are time-strapped managing the crisis. Items donated in-kind from Amazon include baby food and wipes, school supplies, clothing, and hygiene products. This enables nonprofits and relief organizations to respond quickly to the changing and immediate needs of the community members.

We’ve also reached out to, and are helping, our communities around the globe. In China, for example, we leveraged our fulfillment network to donate millions of items—such as medical isolation suits, protective masks, disposable gloves, and other medical supplies—to healthcare professionals in affected cities.