The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said it is tracking one new confirmed case of COVID-19 across its national network of sites, bringing the cumulative total for the agency up to 71 even as the number of active cases dropped to 20.
There are no signs that any employee at an NNSA facility has died to date from COVID-19, a spokeperson for the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency said Friday.
The NNSA does not disclose the number of people who are unable to work each week because of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus that broke out in Wuhan, China last year. However, that number can be higher than the count of confirmed infected personnel, as anyone who might have had contact with someone who tests positive is usually asked to isolate at home for two weeks.
About 1,000 NNSA employees and contractors work at agency headquarters in Washington, the spokesperson said. Most of them have been teleworking since late March, but the civilian nuclear-weapon steward is “currently developing a phased restart and reentry plan for headquarters employees.”
Meanwhile, the three nuclear weapons labs this week provided additional information about confirmed COVID-19 cases among their personnel.
- The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico: 11 confirmed cases at deadline, up over the past two weeks from seven. Of the 11 sick people, six have recovered, a lab spokesperson said. The lab does not always provide a case count each week. The count includes people aside from just those working for Triad Naitonal Security, the NNSA site management contractor. The lab is now clear to test its own employees for COVID-19, but the spokesperson would not say how many people had received tests. Los Alamos “continues to evaluate how best to expand the pilot testing program based on experience from the initial testing, and continues to seek all possible avenues for acquisition of test materials, in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories,” a spokesperson wrote Friday in an email.
- Sandia, also headquartered in New Mexico, had a confirmed total of 13 COVID-19 cases, up from 12 last week. The lab has been able to test its own employees in Albuquerque and Livermore, Calif., for about the past month, though it will not say how many employee tests it has done. Sandia sources its testing equipment from the New Mexico Department of Health.
- The Livermore National Laboratory itself is still tracking four confirmed cases of COVID-19, a spokesperson wrote Friday in an email.
At all of the labs, more people than not are working off-site.
At all NNSA labs and the weapons production sites, work continues on the most essential nuclear weapons refurbishment programs. The Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, suddenly in the middle of the production complex’s worst outbreak, has kept three shifts operating since COVID-19 hit the U.S. in January. Likewise, the Kansas City National Security Campus in Missouri and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., were still running all their regular shifts.
Y-12 was aiming to return to normal operations with maximized telework around this week — allowing just about anyone back on-site, but asking employees to telework, if they can. A spokesperson for plant operator Consolidated Nuclear Security said the NNSA’s uranium hub was still working toward that goal, at deadline.
COVID-19 Cases in NNSA Host Regions
Following is Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor’s weekly digest of confirmed COVID-19 cases, including fatal cases, in the host cities and counties of NNSA nuclear weapons sites.
The figures below are the cumulative cases recorded since the first confirmed U.S. instance of COVID-19 in January. Data come from a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and from select states, counties, and cities, where noted. The Monitor tracks weekly changes, using the latest data available at deadline, which is sometimes current as of the Thursday before publication.
Testing figures report the number of aggregate tests, not the number of people tested.
Kansas City, Mo. – Kansas City National Security Campus
The city so far has a total of 843 total confirmed cases and 18 deaths, up from 730 confirmed cases and 16 deaths last week.
Statewide, the instances of new cases increased this week compared with last, with Missouri registering almost 10,500 confirmed cases and 480 total deaths, up from 8,600 confirmed cases and 329 deaths a week ago. There had been more than 154,000 tests performed in Missouri as of Friday, up from about 80,700 a week ago and 65,000 a week before that.
Missouri was among the first states to reopen businesses shuttered to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The state now allows all businesses to serve customers, provided employees and patrons continue to practice social distancing with the federally recommended 6 feet between people.
New Mexico – NNSA Albuquerque, Albuquerque; Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos
New Mexico had about 5,500 confirmed total cases and 242 deaths at deadline, up sharply from 4,500 cases and 172 total deaths a week ago.
Bernalillo County, near Albuquerque and Sandia, had about 1,150 confirmed positive cases and 54 deaths at deadline, up from about 1,000 cases and 44 deaths last eek. More than 115,011 tests had been performed in New Mexico, rising from about 85,600 a week ago, and 67,800 the week before that, according to the state and the Hopkins tracker.
Los Alamos County held steady week over week at six total confirmed cases and no deaths, maintaining that level of confirmed infections for the fourth consecutive week. However, the local Los Alamos Monitor, citing Los Alamos County manager Harry Burgess, reported this week that Los Alamos County actually has 10 confirmed cases.
Cases in the counties surrounding Los Alamos rose again this week, though by less than last week. Sandoval County had 479 confirmed cases and 22 deaths at deadline, up from 439 confirmed cases and 20 deaths a week ago. Sandoval has a worse outbreak than any other county near Los Alamos.
In other counties neighboring Los Alamos, cases also rose by less than in previous weeks. Taos County had 22 confirmed cases and no deaths this week, up from 20 cases and no deaths last week. Rio Arriba had 30 cases and no deaths, up from 26 cases last week. Santa Fe, N.M., south of Los Alamos, had 113 confirmed total cases, up from 110 confirmed a week ago. Santa Fe recorded its first COVID-19 fatalities this week, when three people died from the disease.
Oak Ridge, Tenn., Anderson County – Y-12 National Security Complex
There were at deadline 35 confirmed cases and one death in Anderson County, Tenn., which includes the Y-12 National Security Complex. That is up from 28 confirmed cases a week ago, with no new deaths.
COVID-19 infections in Tennessee rose sharply for a third week in a row to nearly 16,700 confirmed total cases and 287 total deaths, up from 14,000 cases and 238 deaths a week ago. There had been about 302,000 tests performed in Tennessee at deadline, up from 236,000 last week and 177,600 the week before, according to the state and the Johns Hopkins tracker.
Livermore, Calif., Alameda County – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (including Sandia, Calif.)
In Alameda County, near the Livermore lab, there were as of this week more than 2,200 confirmed cases and 79 total deaths at deadline, up from 1,900 confirmed cases and 67 deaths a week ago.
For the second straight week, the county has more confirmed cases and deaths than nearby San Francisco, which had about 2,000 confirmed cases and 35 total deaths, up from 1,800 confirmed cases and 32 deaths a week ago.
The death toll in Santa Clara, Calif., some 30 miles south by road from Livermore, was 134 as of Friday, up from 127 deaths a week ago. Santa Clara was hit hard early on by COVID-19 and, until last month, had more fatalities than any other part of California. Los Angeles now has by far the most COVID-19 deaths in the state: more than 1,700 at deadline, up from about 1,400 last week.
California, the largest and most populous state in the union, had nearly 75,000 confirmed cases and more than 2,500 total deaths at deadline, compared with 62,000 confirmed cases and 2,500 total deaths a week ago. There had been more than 1.1 million total tests performed in California, at deadline, up from about 840,000 last week.
Aiken, S.C., Aiken County – Savannah River Site
Aiken had about 135 confirmed cases at deadline Friday, with seven deaths. That’s up from about 110 cases a week ago, with one more death.
The Savannah River Site itself had confirmed 13 total cases of COVID-19 at deadline Friday. This week, DOE said all of those people recovered, leaving Savannah River with no active cases as of deadline.
South Carolina overall had almost 8,200 confirmed cases and 371 total confirmed deaths this week, up from about 7,100 confirmed cases and 316 deaths last week. There had been about 102,000 tests performed in South Carolina as of deadline, up from about 75,670 a week ago and 56,500 tests the week before that.
Amarillo, Texas, including Potter and Randall counties – Pantex Plant
The combined case counts of Potter and Randall counties near Amarillo have surged this month, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention swooped in to perform more tests at meat processing facilities in the area. Potter County, to the north of Amarillo, has the more severe outbreak.
Potter tracked 435 new cases compared with last week, according to the Amarillo Public Health Department. That weekly increase was a little lower than the one observed last week, which on its own doubled the county’s confirmed cumulative cases.
The two Amarillo-area counties had a combined total of 1,939 cases and 27 deaths at deadline: 1,462 cases and 23 deaths in Potter; 477 cases and four deaths in Randall, according to the Amarillo Public Health Department. Potter County’s death count almost tripled week-to-week, compared with last Friday.
Last week at this time, the counties had a combined 1,370 cases: 1,027 cases and eight deaths for Potter, and 343 cases and three deaths in Randall.
In the two counties, there have been a combined 11,342 tests performed, up from 6,139 last week, according to the Amarillo health department.
Texas, which this month started reopening retail businesses and other places where people congregate, had almost 44,500 total confirmed cases and 1,235 total deaths, up from 36,000 cases and 985 total deaths this week. There had been more than 623,000 tests done in Texas as of Friday, up from 455,000 last week, and 351,700 the week before that, according to the state and the Hopkins tracker.
Next week, starting Monday, Texas plans to let offices, manufacturing facilities, and gyms reopen, provided they keep occupancy at the 25% mark. Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott allowed salons, barber shops, and other cosmetology businesses to reopen, providing they regularly sanitize work stations and practice social distancing.
Nevada – Nevada National Security Site
There were 49 confirmed cases in Nye County, Nev., near the northwestern perimeter of the former Nevada Test Site, five more than a week ago. Nobody had died of COVID-19 in Nye County at deadline.
In Las Vegas and surrounding Clark County, which have most of the state’s cases and deaths, there were more than 5,000 cases and 275 deaths, up from 4,500 cases and 245 total deaths last week.
Statewide, Nevada had more than 6,700 cases and 346 deaths, up from 5,800 cases and 297 total deaths a week ago. The weekly increase in confirmed infections and fatal cases was higher this week than the week before. There had been almost 69,500 tests performed in Nevada, as of deadline, up from about 51,357 a week ago and 43,500 tests a week before that, according to the state and the Johns Hopkins tracker.
The U.S. had the most COVID-19 cases and deaths of any other nation on Earth at deadline, with more than 85,000 confirmed deaths: up about 10,000 from roughly 75,000 last week. The increase in fatal cases this week was a little lower than the increase tracked the week before.
Since the outbreak hit the U.S., more than 245,000 people domestically had recovered from their bouts with COVID-19, up from 195,000 recoveries last week. There had been some 10.3 million tests performed in the U.S., at deadline.
