The Department of Energy’s largest and most complex nuclear cleanup property is looking at relaxing its COVID-19 protocols soon but has made no changes yet, Hanford’s site manager Brian Vance said in a Tuesday memo to all employees.
Likewise, the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky are “for now” keeping their existing mask rule in place, a DOE spokesperson said at deadline Wednesday.
While DOE announced this week masks will no longer be required for the fully vaccinated, Vance said Hanford is not ready to make the change yet.
“Hanford leadership is currently evaluating the updated guidance released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from our Headquarters regarding fully vaccinated individuals in consideration of employee protections within our job hazard analysis process,” Vance said.
“While revised guidance will be issued in the coming days, at this time, the Hanford Site continues to operate under the existing safety plan, leveraging protocols focused on preventing the spread of COVID-19, including using face masks, socially distancing, and continuing to maximize telework to the extent possible,” Vance added.
Any easing of COVID-19 protocols will occur in a “thorough, methodical and incremental manner,” Vance goes on to say.
Four Hanford employees have reported positive COVID-19 tests since last Friday, according to a DOE website for Hanford run by a Leidos-led contractor. Things are evidently going well at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, where the prime contractor announced Tuesday there have been zero new cases for the past week, and nine straight weeks where the cases have either been zero or in the low single digits.
