Two Amazon facilities in Ontario ordered to partially close due to COVID-19 cases

Apr 24 2021, 6:11 pm

Peel Region Public Health has ordered two Amazon Fulfillment Centres to partially close after several workers tested positive for COVID-19.

The Amazon facilities at 8050 Heritage Road in Brampton and 12724 Coleraine Drive in Bolton partially closed on April 24, and will remain shut down for at least 10 days.

A “partial closure” involves the mass dismissal of a shift or work area, rather than a full closure which mandates that an entire workplace must shut down.

Peel Public Health did not specify how many workers had tested positive for the virus, or how many were affected by the closure.

The Bolton facility was one of five Amazon warehouses investigated by the Ministry of Labour last month over COVID-19 and other workplace safety-related concerns.

In March, the Brampton site was ordered to close for two weeks due to a large COVID-19 outbreak.

The facilities are the first to be closed under a new Section 22 order that came into effect in Peel on Friday. The order has also been issued in Toronto.

The order allows the health units closes a workplace when five or more people test positive for the virus within a 14 day period, and have “reasonably acquired” the infection at work.

“These closures will allow Peel Public Health to investigate without risk of continuing spread, protecting employees and the community,” the health unit said.

“Absent legislated paid sick days, employers required to close under these provisions are strongly recommended to provide paid leave for impacted employees.”

Ontario reported 4,094 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, of which 1,014 were detected in Peel Region. The province has seen 441,404 virus cases to date.

Zoe DemarcoZoe Demarco

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