COVID cases reported in Hanford, PNNL workers. But no outbreaks declared

Thirteen employees at the Hanford nuclear reservation have reported testing positive for COVID-19.

However, the cases are not considered an outbreak because there has not been a cluster of confirmed cases in a single facility or work location at the 580-square-mile site.

Hanford employs about 11,000 people. Last week, about 25% of the overall workforce were back to working in their offices or at Hanford-site locations.

The count of positive cases includes people who had not been on site for weeks before testing positive.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, also owned by the Department of Energy, has had two reports of employees testing positive for COVID-19. Neither had been on campus for several weeks when they received positive test results.

The majority of the national lab’s 4,700 employees are based at the Richland campus, with some smaller work sites elsewhere, including in Seattle and Sequim, Wash.

In comparison to the number of cases at DOE and PNNL, the Benton Franklin Health District is reporting a rate of 99 cases per 10,000 people in Pasco, 67 per 10,000 in Kennewick and 38 per 10,000 in Richland.

Hanford and PNNL both have had a majority of staff telecommuting, but are gradually increasing workers on site.

About 60% of employees have been teleworking, and almost all workers are being paid for up to 40 hours a week, even if they are not able to report to the site or have jobs that cannot be done by computer at home.

A small increase in the number of workers is due to return to the site this week.

The focus for returning workers is construction projects that have limited need for personal protective equipment to preserve the Hanford stock for the work essential to safety of the public, workers and environment.

Essential work has continued on site with limited staffing during the coronvirus pandemic.

The site is taking steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, including requiring workers to wear masks, setting up handwashing stations, and reconfiguring offices and work spaces to provide physical distance among workers.

Both regular cleaning and disinfection of surfaces that workers touch frequently, such as doorknobs, have been increased.

One contractor, Bechtel National, has recommended that workers not carpool or use van pools for commuting because six feet of distance cannot be maintained within the vehicles

PNNL workers returning

PNNL is also taking similar steps, including requiring face covering, marking work spaces for social distances, closing many break rooms and other public spaces, and posting limits for the number of employees at different work spaces.

It is offering COVID-19 tests to staff returning to onsite work and instituting daily health checks.

PNNL reduced staff on site in March to 300 to 500 a day. It began a gradual transition June 1 to return more workers to campus.

About 850 workers were on site late last week.

As many as 40 additional staff are allowed to return each weekday, with a limit of no more than 1,950 on campus over the next couple of months and the majority of staff continuing to telework.

Policies were set in collaboration with the DOE Pacific Northwest Site Office.