Amazon has contributed $1 million to a new Seattle Foundation fund for community members affected by COVID-19. In addition, Amazon 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.
Amazon has also 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 pandemic. Further, Amazon is providing additional cash and in-kind support to five food service providers in the Washington D.C. region.
Amazon is opening 100,000 new full and part-time positions across the U.S. in its 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. It is also recognizing its 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., Amazon will be adding an additional $2 USD per hour worked through April from its 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.
Additionally, Amazon Web Services launched 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, AWS is 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 innovative diagnostic solutions to mitigate future infectious disease outbreaks.
Amazon is partnering with researchers to use machine learning technology and diagnose coronavirus cases based on CT scans.
Amazon leveraged its worldwide logistics and operations network to donate more than 1 million items, including medical-grade protective masks, isolation suits, and disposable gloves, to healthcare professionals in China to help with the coronavirus outbreak relief efforts.