Four more workers at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state have tested positive for novel coronavirus 2019, the agency said Monday.
An additional 12 workers have undergone testing for COVID-19 and are awaiting results, according to an announcement on the Hanford website. The announcement did not state whether the individuals work directly for the federal government or for site contractors.
Roughly 11,000 federal and contractor employees support on-site remediation for the former plutonium production complex. The Hanford website does not provide any running total of COVID-19 infections at the facility since the pandemic began in the United States this year, nor how many personnel have recovered and received clearance to resume work.
Based on anecdotal reports, it appears at least 71 Hanford Site employees have contracted the virus during 2020.
Hanford, and most of the 15 other Office of Environmental Management properties, used bare bones on-site staffing between late March and late May in order to slow the spread of the virus. Hanford remains in Phase 1 of the DOE restart plan, which involves bringing back key personnel and workers employed in low-risk jobs on-site. Most personnel, however, continue to either telework or collect paid leave.
As of last Thursday, the DOE cleanup office reported 98 active cases of COVID-19 among its 16 properties.
