Confirmed, active cases of COVID-19 across the National Nuclear Security Administration enterprise jumped after the Thanksgiving holiday but remained about 70% lower than they were at this time last year, according to the latest agency data.
There were 277 confirmed active cases across the agency’s labs, plants and sites, a spokesperson at National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) headquarters wrote in an email on Friday. That was about 30 more cases than at the end of October. Confirmed cases enterprise-wide actually declined for much of November, touching a three-month low before shooting back up after turkey day.
There were no known fatalities from COVID-19 in November, leaving the NNSA’s confirmed total for the pandemic , now closing in on its second year, at 29, the spokesperson wrote.
Meanwhile, some NNSA sites reported an uptick in vaccinations during November. The NNSA had modified contracts with all its major site operators to include a Dec. 8 vaccination deadline, though the Joe Biden administration has since said contractors may be allowed to wait until early January to get their shot, or shots.
One of the NNSA complex’s biggest increases in vaccine rates over the past month was at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., which according to a spokesperson from site prime Consolidated Nuclear Security saw the number of fully vaccinated people rise by more than 1,900 since late October to 6,860, as of the first week of December.
Y-12 personnel have been more inclined so far in the pandemic to take a vaccination than colleagues at their affiliate site in Texas, but Pantex too posted a big increase in vaccinations since late October. The Texas site had 2,960 people fully vaccinated at deadline Friday, up by about 800 compared with the end of October.
The Nevada National Security Site is retallying the number of fully vaccinated people on site, a spokesperson said this week. That recount has been ongoing for nearly a month. Meanwhile, the test site has said that about 2,000 people there are fully vaccinated. The reported figure has stayed the same since early September.
Meanwhile, each of the nuclear weapons laboratories all have vaccination rates of 90% or close to it. A spokesperson for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said Friday the California lab has an 89% vaccination rate. The spokesperson said employees there have until Jan. 18 to be fully vaccinated.
The Sandia National Laboratories has said 13,736 of its employees are vaccinated, up from 13,387 in late October, a spokesperson said this week. That would put vaccinated employees in the 90th percentile.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory has claimed a vaccination rate of 99%, a milestone it hit in late October. The lab mandated full vaccination for employees in August, before the Biden administration laid down the requirement for all federal employees and contractors.
