The number of coronavirus infections among employees who work for the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state continues to grow.
Eight employees reported to management Monday they have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the DOE Hanford website that provides regular updates on the virus at the former plutonium production site.
No additional information, such as whether they were federal or contractor personnel, was provided. Counting the Monday report, along with seven additional cases reported over the weekend, Hanford has confirmed at least 47 infections among its workforce since the pandemic began, based on an informal count.
The Hanford Site, which employs about 11,000 federal and vendor workers, does not provide a total number of cases.
As of last week, the DOE Office of Environmental Management confirmed 94 active cases within its nuclear cleanup complex, which covers Hanford and 15 other locations. It does not disclose the total number of infections.
Nationally, there have been about 4.38 million cases of COVID-19 infection and 150,000 deaths, according to an online tracker of coronavirus information based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other government agencies.