Someone at the Y-12 National Security Complex died from complications related to COVID-19 this week, casting a pall over the continuing downward trend of new confirmed cases across the civilian nuclear enterprise.
The fatality brings the total of confirmed fatal cases at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) during the roughly year-long global pandemic to 15, a spokesperson for agency headquarters said Friday.
Still, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons steward had reports of fewer new confirmed COVID-19 cases this week than in any week since late September, posting 62 new infections eclipsed by 92 recoveries.
That still made for 429 active COVID-19 cases this week at NNSA, which at deadline had confirmed a total 4,999 cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus since the pandemic reached the U.S.
National Laboratories Cases
Following are the reported numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases at NNSA nuclear weapons laboratories, along with increases relative to the prior week and the number of people vaccinated, as provided Friday by the labs.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory:
Cases: 276 (+5)
Livermore has been designated as a point of distribution for vaccines but had not received any vaccines at deadline, the only lab for which that was the case, as of this writing.
Los Alamos National Laboratory:
Cases: 784 (+6. 709 people who got sick had recovered, as of deadline, while four had died). Los Alamos has started vaccinations, but a spokesperson declined to say how many personnel there had received doses. The local Los Alamos Reporter, citing a lab official, said Los Alamos had vaccinated 500 people, as of earlier this month.
Internal tests: 15,697 (+701. A lab spokesperson said Friday these on-site tests have resulted in 246 positive results: only one more positive test than last week).
Teleworking: Roughly 65% of all employees, flat compared with last week.
Sandia National Laboratories:
Cases: 760 (+33).
Internal tests: 10,084 (+292).
Sandia started vaccinations the week of Jan. 11, the labs network has since vaccinated 402 people. That’s 200 more than only one week ago, according to the spokesperson.
Teleworking: Roughly 55% of all employees, about the same as a week ago.
