COVID vaccination levels climbed at the Sandia National Laboratories this week and appeared to be headed toward a plateau at National Nuclear Security Administration production sites and the Nevada National Security Site, according to agency data.
Across the agency’s federal and contractor workforce, confirmed active cases of COVID-19 — the viral disease caused by the novel coronavirus that broke out in Wuhan, China, in 2019 — dropped to the lowest level since July: 108. That’s down 30 from a week ago and down by almost a factor of 10 compared with peak weekly totals in December.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) no longer reports the number of new infections recorded each week. The agency racked up more than 5,000 cumulative confirmed positive cases before it stopped sharing data publicly in mid-April.
DOE this week said the fully vaccinated, those for whom two weeks has elapsed since their final COVID-19 vaccination shot, need no longer wear masks at agency properties.
Likewise, the Los Alamos National Laboratory said this week that employees who can provide proof that they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 will not have to submit to mandatory random screenings for the viral disease.
However, in a May 17 email to employees, Kathy Segala, associate laboratory director for capital projects, said Los Alamos personnel may only skip out on COVID-19 tests if they provide a copy of their vaccination card.
Those who were vaccinated on-premises were automatically exempted from the mandatory random screenings the lab has conducted for about a year now. Anyone who was vaccinated offsite was given an “urgent request” to turn a copy of their vaccination records over to occupational medicine, according to Segala’s email.
“Even workers who are teleworking will be periodically tested if they have not been vaccinated,” Segala wrote. “If you were vaccinated off-site and haven’t sent your card to OccMed, you will be treated as an unvaccinated worker.”
Meanwhile, as of Friday, more than 1,700 employees at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, were fully vaccinated: flat week-to-week for the second consecutive week. Almost 3,500 employees at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., were fully vaccinated, up about 200 compared with last week, a spokesperson for the jointly managed sites wrote Friday in an email.
Y-12 began providing vaccinations on Wednesday, March 31 and began giving second-doses on April 22, 2021.
As of Wednesday May 5, the Nevada National Security Site had vaccinated more than 2,000 personnel with a first dose and more than 1,900 personnel with a second dose, about flat compared with a week ago, a spokesperson wrote Friday in an email. About half the workforce was telecommuting.
The Kansas City National Security Campus in Missouri declined this week to share any COVID-19 figures.
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: 333 (+1)
At deadline Friday, Livermore had given out at least 2,300 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, a spokesperson wrote in an email.
Livermore is a designated point of distribution for the vaccine in California and in March received its stockpile of doses from DOE and NNSA in collaboration with the Pentagon, the Livermore spokesperson has said.
Those doses administered so far covered “about one quarter of our population,” the lab spokesperson has said.
Los Alamos National Laboratory:
Cases: 854 (+9. 818 people who got sick had recovered, as of deadline). Los Alamos personnel have received thousands of doses, but a spokesperson declined to say exactly how many personnel there were fully vaccinated as of Friday.
Internal tests: 18,854 (+519. A lab spokesperson said Friday these on-site tests have resulted in 267 positive results, up by five, compared with last week).
Teleworking: Roughly 55% of all employees, flat compared with last week.
Sandia National Laboratories:
In March, Sandia National Laboratories instituted a one-week lag time reporting COVID data to the public. Below are the most recent numbers available for Sandia at deadline, which were current as of May 14.
Cases: 874 (+2).
Internal tests: 12,075 (+40).
Sandia started vaccinations the week of Jan. 11.
Since then, a total of 11,528 people had been fully vaccinated at Sandia at deadline, up 901 from a week ago, a spokesperson said Friday.
At Sandia’s New Mexico site, 3,931 people had been fully vaccinated through the onsite clinic as of Friday, up 296 from the prior week. Another 6,326 people had been fully vaccinated at offsite locations, up 528 from the prior week.
At Sandia’s California site, 380 people had been fully vaccinated onsite, flat compared with the prior week, while another 891 people had been fully vaccinated at offsite locations, up 77 from the prior week.
Teleworking: Roughly 55% of all employees, flat compared with the prior week.
