National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sites logged more positive cases of COVID-19 this week, boosting the total number of confirmed infections in the civilian nuclear security enterprise beyond the half-century mark.
The semiautonomous Department of Energy branch would not say how many new cases of the viral disease its plants, sites, and headquarters had racked up since last week, when the total was 51. An agency spokesperson said Friday there were “both recoveries and additional positive cases across the enterprise” this week.
There were exactly as many COVID-19 recoveries at NNSA this week as there were confirmed new cases, according to the agency. At sites with an NNSA presence, there are now 51 active cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus 2019, the NNSA spokesperson told Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor. The NNSA acknowledges it has more total cases than last week.
Nobody at any NNSA-owned site had died of COVID-19 at deadline Friday, the agency spokesperson told Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor.
Only one of the three NNSA nuclear weapons laboratories, New Mexico-based Sandia National Laboratories, is offering COVID-19 tests for its own employees. The other two, Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories, were not as of Friday.
Meanwhile, uranium and secondary-stage manufacturing at the Y-12 National Security Campus in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and weapons servicing at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, continued in reduced mission-critical operations posture this week. It would be around June before the sites ramp back from that posture, though the timeline could change, a spokesperson for the sites said. During reduced mission-critical operations, only those working on DOE’s highest priority missions are allowed on site.
The Kansas City National Security Complex in Missouri, where the NNSA makes the non-nuclear parts of nuclear weapons, likewise continued operations, albeit with fewer people on-site than the usual 5,000. Management has asked those who can telework to do so.
Meanwhile, the host regions of nearly all the NNSA sites have more cases of COVID-19 this week than they did last week. Here is a digest of confirmed COVID-19 cases, including fatal cases, in the host cities and counties of NNSA nuclear weapons sites.
The figures here are the cumulative total cases recorded since the first confirmed U.S. case of COVID-19 in January. Data come from a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and from data maintained by the states. The Monitor tracks weekly changes from one Friday to the next.
Kansas City, Mo. – Kansas City National Security Campus
The city so far has a total of 371 confirmed cases, including 12 deaths, up from 257 confirmed cases with eight deaths last week. The city recorded its first fatal case two weeks ago.
Missouri had more than 5,000 confirmed cases overall, and 166 deaths, at deadline. Last week, the state had 3,600 confirmed cases overall with 92 deaths. More than 50,000 people in Missouri had been tested as of this week.
Kansas City alone has more COVID-19 cases than the combined host regions of the other NNSA production sites: the Pantex Plant, the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C.; and the Y-12 National Security Complex.
New Mexico – NNSA Albuquerque, Albuquerque; Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos
New Mexico had about 1,500 cases at deadline, with 36 deaths, up from around 1,000 cases and 17 deaths a week ago. Bernalillo County, near Albuquerque and Sandia, had around one-third of the state’s total cases, and just under half the total deaths, at 17. More than 33,000 people had been tested in New Mexico, at deadline.
Los Alamos County had six cases this week, up from four a week ago. More than 250 people had been tested in the county for COVID-19.
The number of new cases in most counties surrounding Los Alamos was smaller this week than last. Sandoval County, one of the hardest-hit in the state, was the exception. Cases there have climbed rapidly over the last two weeks. Sandoval had 262 confirmed cases and four deaths this week, up from 174 cases and two deaths last week. The county’s rate of transmission, at least, has slowed. Last week, Sandoval logged a sixfold increase, compared with the week ending Friday, April 3.
Taos County has stabilized for the time being at 15 and no deaths: no change from from last week. Rio Arriba had 10 cases, up from seven last week. Santa Fe, N.M., south of Los Alamos, had 78 confirmed cases and no deaths, up from 70 confirmed cases about a week ago.
Oak Ridge, Tenn., Anderson County – Y-12 National Security Complex
There were at deadline 16 confirmed cases and one death in Anderson County, Tenn., which includes the Y-12 National Security Complex. That is up from 11 cases last week, with no new deaths.
Tennessee’s misery compounded this week, when tornadoes ripped across the state on Eastern Sunday. Amid the storms, COVID-19 infections soared statewide to 6,400 cases and 136 deaths, compared with 4,600 cases and 94 deaths a week ago. There had been nearly 81,000 people tested in Tennessee, as of Friday.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Friday said the state would provide free COVID-19 testing for anybody who wanted it, even asymptomatic people, for the weekend of April 18-19. The local Tennesseean newspaper reported that not all municipalities were opting into the free testing. Nashville, for example, was still offering testing only to people with symptoms.
Livermore, Calif., Alameda County – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (including Sandia, Calif.)
In California, where large portions of the population locked down quicker than in other large, populous states, there were fewer new cases and deaths nearby the Livermore lab, in Alameda, County. Alameda had more than 960 confirmed cases and 36 deaths this week, up from 710 confirmed cases and 17 deaths a week ago. That’s 100 fewer new cases this week than last. More than 227,000 people had been tested, as of this week.
Nearby San Francisco had more than 1,000 confirmed cases and 17 deaths, up from 800 confirmed cases and 13 deaths a week ago. The death toll in Santa Clara, Calif., some 30 miles south by road from Livermore, was still the state’s second-highest, though now by a distant margin behind Los Angeles. Santa Clara had 65 deaths at deadline, up from 47 deaths a week ago, Los Angeles had the most deaths in California: more than 400, as of deadline.
California, the largest and most populous state in the union, had more than 27,000 confirmed cases. That is up from 20,000 confirmed cases at deadline, double last week’s total. That is only 12% of New York’s confirmed cases.
The Empire State remains the U.S. epicenter, with around 215,000 confirmed cases and more than 14,000 deaths at deadline. The death count almost doubled, compared with 160,000 cases and 7,800 deaths on April 10.
Aiken, S.C., Aiken County – Savannah River Site
Aiken, S.C. had about 60 cases and three deaths at deadline, up from 42 confirmed cases and one death a week ago.
South Carolina overall had about 3,600 confirmed cases and 106 deaths, up from about 2,800 confirmed cases and 67 deaths. Almost 35,000 people had been tested in South Carolina.
Amarillo, Texas, including Potter and Randall counties – Pantex Plant
Potter and Randall counties near Amarillo had 152 cases between them: 79 for Potter and 73 for Randall. Cumulatively, that is up from 110 cases a week ago, when Potter had 58 and Randall had 42. Potter was up 42 cases, Randall up 35. Each county had two COVID-19 deaths at deadline, up from one each a week ago.
Texas had almost 16,500 cases this week, up from about 11,000 confirmed cases last week. Deaths in Texas rose to 397 from 223 last week. More than 150,000 people had been tested in Texas, as of this week.
Nevada – Nevada National Security Site
Nevada had more than 3,200 cases at deadline, with 137 deaths. That’s up from 2,500 cases and 86 deaths a week ago. There were almost 20 confirmed cases in Nye County, Nev., near the northwestern perimeter of the former Nevada Test Site, about double last week’s total of 10. Nobody had died of COVID-19 in Nye County at deadline. It was a different story in Las Vegas, and surrounding Clark County, which have most of the state’s cases and deaths: more than 2,500 cases and 115 deaths, at deadline. More than 27,000 people had been tested in Nevada, as of Friday.
At deadline, more than 34,000 people had died in the U.S. from COVID-19: over 15,000 more than last week. At deadline, more than 57,000 people had recovered from their bouts with the disease.
