The executive in charge of Amazon's 1 million warehouse and delivery workers said the number of employees infected with coronavirus is not a 'useful number' (AMZN)

Amazon's head of operations stated in a 60 Minutes interview that he does not know the total number of Amazon employees who have become sick with the coronavirus.
He said tracking the total number of cases is "not a particularly useful number."
Despite that, employees are tracking coronavirus cases at Amazon warehouses.
Clark's team of delivery drivers and warehouse employees total one million.
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The head of Amazon's global operations does not know how many Amazon employees have become sick with the coronavirus.

In a 60 Minutes interview aired on May 10, Dave Clark, who is a senior vice president at Amazon, told correspondent Leslie Stahl that he did not have the exact number of Amazon workers who have contracted the coronavirus. The 60 Minutes segment that included Stahl's interview with Clark explored Amazon's treatment of its employees, focusing on how warehouse workers have fared during the virus pandemic.

One of the notable exchanges between Stahl and Clark came up when the journalist asked Clark how many Amazon employees have become sick.

Stahl: So how many positive cases have you discovered at Amazon?

Clark: The actual sort of total number of cases isn't particularly useful because it's relative to the size of the building and then the overall community infection rate.

Stahl: So you don't know or you're just not gonna tell us how many cases have been discovered?

Clark: I mean, we know. I don't have the number right on me at this moment because it's not a particularly useful number.

For Amazon leadership including Clark, the rationale is that people are getting sick because of where they live; they could be getting sick from grocery stores, gas stations, or any other places where Americans congregate in recent weeks.

"We see COVID cases popping up at roughly a rate generally just under what the actual community infection rates are, because our employees live and are part of those communities," Clark told Stahl.

That's also why he's refusing to shut down warehouses that are major hotspots, like the ones in Staten Island, where a worker recently died, or Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

"It's not a reluctance, it's just not effective," Clark said in the 60 minutes interview. "If I believed that shutting down the plant was the answer to keeping our people safe, we would do it. But it's not."

Against government recommendations

Clark's ideas on the coronavirus don't match what the federal government advises, nor what other major employers of plant workers have done since the coronavirus outbreak.

As Stahl noted, the Centers for Disease Control urges that plant owners should shut down their facilities if someone is sick, and wait 24 hours before disinfecting. The area where the sick employee worked should also be blocked off. Amazon, however, has not closed down any warehouse and is instead cleaning facilities throughout the day, or as little as once a week.

Meanwhile, companies that employ massive numbers like Amazon have simply shut down their own factories, including Ford, GM, and Boeing.Clark's team of warehouse workers and delivery drivers total one million, and he oversees more than 1,000 buildings that handle Amazon packages and Whole Foods stock.

Amazon did not respond to Business Insider's request for a comment.

As information remains lacking, workers are pushing for Amazon to act

As Amazon remains opaque about how many of its workers have become sick, employees are tracking the numbers on their own. In its tracking tool, United for Respect, a workers' advocacy group, has found that workers in 418 Amazon facilities have the coronavirus.

Hundreds of Amazon workers have staged "sick-outs" and walk-outs in recent weeks to pressure the company to provide adequate protective gear and more stringent social distancing measures.

Chris Smalls, who was employed in Amazon's Staten Island facility, lead the first of these walk-outs to demand Amazon to close its fulfillment center in New York City after several employees there contracted the coronavirus. He was later fired. The state of New York is investigating Smalls' firing.

A leaked memo obtained by Vice revealed thatAmazon's top lawyer, David Zapolsky, planned to smear Smalls in the press as "not smart, or articulate." Clark was reportedly in the meeting where Zapolsky discussed his plans.