The Amazon headquarters sits virtually empty on March 10, 2020 in downtown Seattle, Washington. In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Amazon recommended all employees in its Seattle office to work from home, leaving much of downtown nearly void of people.

Amazon Care, the company's virtual medical clinic for employees, is in talks with local public health organizations about using its logistics expertise to help deliver at-home coronavirus testing kits to people's homes in the Seattle area.

The discussions have been going on for more than a week, say three people with knowledge of the plans. The people declined to share their names because Amazon Care's involvement is still confidential, and they have not been authorized to do so.

Specifically, Amazon Care has offered the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation its assistance with a project that aims to provide kits to Seattle residents who suspect they have symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The test kits include nose swabs that can be mailed to the University of Washington for analysis.

Seattle has become one of the hardest hit regions for the coronavirus in the United States. Schools have been shut down in the Seattle area for almost a week, and King County is now reporting dozens of new cases per day. Health officials say the increase in testing is responsible in part for the big spike in cases. Almost a week ago, Amazon told Seattle employees to work from home after an employee tested positive for the virus.

For the Amazon Care team, working with local public health groups would be an opportunity for the group to expand its focus outside of its own workers. Amazon Care launched in September of 2019 as a pilot project to deliver high-quality health care to employees and their dependents in the Seattle area. It includes an app and website for employees to ask questions, but there's also the option to schedule a nurse visit to the home if followup care is required. Amazon has also hired public health experts and doctors to work on Amazon Care, including Dr. Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist, and Dr. Kristi Henderson, a clinical operations leader who previously worked in population health.