An employee at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has tested positive for coronavirus and is now in quarantine at home, a spokeswoman for the company said tonight.
Linda Mills, Blue Origin’s vice president of communications, confirmed the case in a statement emailed to GeekWire:
“Earlier today a Blue Origin employee tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. This individual was last working in our Kent factory on Thursday, March 26, and has been at home since then. Blue Origin’s Human Resources team will remain in contact with him throughout the recovery period to make sure he is getting the care and support he needs while he quarantines and seeks medical care.
“The health and safety of this individual — and the Blue Origin team — is our first priority and main concern. We are following all CDC guidelines at all of our facilities, and have implemented additional procedures to ensure the ongoing safety of our employees.”
Word of the detection comes a day after reports emerged that some Blue Origin employees were concerned about plans to send a team down to the company’s West Texas launch complex for an uncrewed test flight of the New Shepard suborbital spacecraft. The concerns focused not only on the potential travel risk for employees, but also on the potential for an employee with an asymptomatic case of COVID-19 to pass along the virus unwittingly to residents in the area surrounding the launch site.
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In response to those reports, Blue Origin said it is doing everything it can “to safeguard our workforce and communities.”
Like many other aerospace companies, Blue Origin is considered an essential business and has been exempted from Washington state’s stay-at-home order. Nevertheless, Blue Origin says it has been emphasizing telework arrangements, conducting deep cleaning of its facilities, eliminating non-essential visits, minimizing travel and practicing social distancing.
We first learned about the COVID-19 case from sources who also expressed concern about other employees who might have come in contact with the infected worker. Mills addressed that concern in a follow-up email to GeekWire:
“Our Human Resources team interviewed the infected employee to assess risk to others and have contacted the small number of employees who were in contact with him. For those employees who may have been in close contact with the employee, HR has directed them to self-quarantine at home for 14 days. Upon learning of his confirmation today, we conducted another deep cleaning of the areas he visited (on top of the deep cleanings that were done earlier this week for unrelated reasons). We will continue to do deep cleanings of our workspaces, as warranted.”
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April 04, 2020 at 12:18PM
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says worker at Kent factory has tested positive for coronavirus - GeekWire
"Factory" - Google News
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