Active confirmed COVID-19 cases among civilian nuclear weapons workers declined for a sixth straight week, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s tally of cases among its federal and contractor personnel.
The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency had received reports of 43 new confirmed cases this week, a spokesperson said Friday, with active cases dropping by 36 week-over-week to 393. That marked the lowest weekly increase since early October and the lowest number of active cases since early November.
So far, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has received confirmation of 5,042 cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19 among its federal and contract workforce since the disease caused by the novel coronavirus reached U.S. shores more than a year ago.
Vaccinations continued across the NNSA complex this week, as they have for most of 2021.
This week at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., more than 1,800 personnel — including DOE federal personnel at the sites — had received the first dose of the two-shot COVID-19 vaccine. More than 1,150 of those were administered on site at Pantex, with the rest provided off-site, a spokesperson for the site’s prime contract, Consolidated Nuclear Security, said.
Nearly as many people at the two sites had gotten their second doses as of Friday: over 1,250 at the two sites, including 906 second doses administered at Pantex, the spokesperson said.
At the Nevada National Security Site, some 1,600 personnel had received a first dose as of Wednesday, while 800 had received both doses, a spokesperson for management and operations contractor Mission Support and Test Services said. About half the Nevada workforce was still telecommuting, as of deadline.
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: 283 (+7)
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: 793 (+9. 729 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.
Internal tests: 16,343 (+646. A lab spokesperson said Friday these on-site tests have resulted in 250 positive results: five more positive tests than last week).
Teleworking: Roughly 65% of all employees, flat compared with last week.
Sandia National Laboratories:
Effective Friday, Sandia National Laboratories instituted a one-week lag time reporting COVID data to the public because of “a shift in when our numbers are being updated internally,” a spokesperson said Friday.
Here are the most recent numbers available for Sandia at deadline, which were current as of Feb. 26.
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.
