Amazon working to build its own coronavirus testing lab

As health experts continue to emphasize the need for expanded coronavirus testing, Amazon is looking to construct its very own lab to do just that.

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“If every person, including people with no symptoms, could be tested regularly, it would make a huge difference in how we are all fighting this virus,” Amazon said in a post on its company blog.

To that end, the Seattle-based tech giant moved a handful of program managers, procurement specialists, and software engineers away from their normal roles and onto a special team devoted to expanding the company’s testing capabilities.

It’s also begun the process of acquiring and assembling equipment needed to start a testing lab, with the goal to be able to test “small numbers of our front line employees soon.”

“We are not sure how far we will get in the relevant timeframe, but we think it’s worth trying, and we stand ready to share anything we learn with others,” the company said.

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Increased testing has been cited by health experts as a prerequisite for safely reopening the U.S. economy, something the country has yet to fully implement.

“Regular testing on a global scale across all industries would both help keep people safe and help get the economy back up and running,” Amazon said. “But, for this to work, we as a society would need vastly more testing capacity than is currently available.”

The company points out that such a system could require “billions of doses,” and “collective action by NGOs, companies and governments.”

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