Amazon has closed a warehouse distribution center in New Jersey until Dec. 26 after an uptick in coronavirus cases, the company said.

“Through our in-house COVID-19 testing program, we detected an increase in the number of asymptomatic positive cases at our PNE5 facility in (Robbinsville) and have proactively closed the site until December 26th out of an abundance of caution,” Amazon spokeswoman Lisa Levandowski said in a statement.

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/12/amazon-closes-nj-distribution-warehouse-due-to-covid-19-cases-among-workers.html

The spokeswoman did not say how many asymptomatic COVID-19 cases were detected at the Robbinsville warehouse, but said Amazon’s testing program works.

“This is exactly why we built the program — to identify asymptomatic cases and ensure that we can take swift action to prevent spread,” Levandowski said.

Levandowski said all employees at the Robbinsville warehouse will be paid for any shifts they will miss as a result of the closure.

Last spring, at least 48 employees at the Amazon fulfillment center in Edisoncontracted COVID-19, making it the largest reported outbreak of any of the company’s facilities in New Jersey at the time.

In October, Amazon disclosed that nearly 20,000 of its front-line employees contracted COVID-19 between March and September. The company has previously closed other facilities for brief periods after detecting new coronavirus cases.

Robbinsville Mayor Dave Fried said Monday such business closures should be expected until the virus can be controlled with a vaccine.

“The pandemic will continue making the rules until the vaccines are available to everyone,” Fried said in an email. “We rely not only on our front-line workers, but also those at Amazon and other distribution centers who have been packing, sorting and safely delivering us the goods we use every day. The supply chain is incredibly important, and we will continue working with all of our partners in the private sector to keep people as safe as possible.”

Credit: NJ.com