The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina as of Friday confirmed a total of 406 cases of COVID-19 among its workforce. Of those, 308 workers have recovered and been cleared to return to work, according to the weekly online update from DOE’s operations office at Savannah River.
The total confirmed cases at SRS represent an increase of 38 since the last update. Also, at the end of July, the total was 230.
Roughly 11,000 federal and contract workers are employed at the DOE site next to the Georgia line, which houses operations for both the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
Meanwhile, two more employees at the Hanford Site in Washington state reported to management Friday they have tested positive for the coronavirus. At least 75 cases have been confirmed among personnel supporting cleanup of the former plutonium production complex, which also has about 11,000 workers. The infection total is an anecdotal estimate based on updates via a DOE website for Hanford.
Both Hanford and SRS remain in Phase 1 of efforts to resume normal remediation operations after on-site staffing at Environmental Management properties was reduced to minimal levels from late March to late May in an effort to reduce the spread of the pandemic. Within the four-part approach, Phase 3 would represent a return to near-normal operations. While most workers at the sites continue to either work remotely or collect paid leave, Hanford and Savannah River are bringing back employees doing either high-priority or low-risk tasks that require little protective equipment.
There were on Thursday 149 active COVID-19 cases within the DOE Environmental Management complex, an agency official said Thursday. On Aug. 13 there were 129 active cases and 88 at the end of July. Two deaths among EM personnel have been attributed to the virus to date, one victim worked at SRS and another at headquarters in Washington, D.C.
