For the second week in a row, the National Nuclear Security Administration broke its record for new confirmed COVID-19 cases in a week, reflecting the disease’s rapid spread among the general population.
Nationally, the U.S. is setting new daily case records almost daily, according to data tracked by the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
At the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) labs, plants and sites this week, federal employees and contractors combined for 309 new cases, with 184 recoveries making for 125 active cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The NNSA has cumulatively tracked 2,277 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the first confirmed U.S. case in January. The vast majority of these reported cases were not fatal, although five NNSA employees have died from COVID-19: two at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, two at the Nevada National Security Site and one at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The most recent fatality was at Los Alamos last month.
Nearly every NNSA host locale had far fewer new COVID-19 cases this week than last week, signaling a blunting of the runaway COVID spike these places saw in the autumn. However, the positive trend may reverse quickly if potential exposures during last week’s Thanksgiving holiday drive a rash of new positive cases.
NNSA does not disclose the number of employees quarantining due to possible exposure to COVID-19 either at or away from the workplace, nor the effect of the disease on the nuclear supply chain.
The NNSA production sites, the Kansas City National Security Campus in Missouri, the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., all have worked their usual three shifts for most of the pandemic.
The laboratories, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia, have had at least half of their employees off site for most of the pandemic — more lately, since the disease started raging out of control in the fall.
National Laboratories Cases
Following are the reported numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases at NNSA nuclear weapons laboratories, and increases relative to the prior week, as provided Friday by the labs.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory:
Cases: 97 (+10). Livermore is the only lab that does not test its own employees.
Los Alamos National Laboratory:
Cases: 370 (+49; 238 people who got sick recovered. Los Alamos has had two fatalities, to date).
Internal tests: 10,170 (+466; a lab spokesperson said Friday these on-site tests have resulted in 128 positive results).
Teleworking: Roughly 80% of all employees, up from about 70% of employees as of last week. Los Alamos started scaling back on-site operations about one month ago, when the nationwide surge caused cases in New Mexico to soar.
Sandia National Laboratories:
Cases: 355 (+66)
Albuquerque: 333 (+63)
Livermore: 22 (+3)
Internal tests: 4,534 (+354 compared with the week of Nov. 20, the last prior period for which data were available from Sandia).
Teleworking: Roughly 70%
Editor’s note, 12/04/2020, 6:46 p.m., Eastern. The story was updated with the latest COVID-19 tallies from the Sandia National Laboratories.
