San Francisco, January 27th – American media reported on the 26th local time that preliminary tests found that 135 workers at a seafood processing plant in Alaska were tested positive for COVID-19.
The Associated Press reported that Seattle-based Poseidon Fork Marine Company is the largest seafood fishing and processing company in North America.
The processing plant of the outbreak is located in Akutan, about 1,200 kilometers southwest of Anchorage. It is the largest processing plant of Poseidon Fork Marine Company in Alaska. At present, there are about 700 workers in the processing plant.
The Seattle Times reported that Alaska health officials reported the results of COVID-19 testing for workers at the processing plant on the 26th. By the afternoon of the day, 307 workers at the plant had been tested, of which 135 had tested positive, with a positive rate of nearly 44%.
Executives of Poseidon Fork Marine said that the current number of positive cases is relatively high, in part because they first tested high-risk people and close contacts of confirmed patients.
The test is expected to be completed in the next few days. The company’s executives said that once the test is completed, the company will disclose all the results.
The Anchorage Daily News quoted Alaska health officials as saying that two seriously ill infected people at the processing plant were sent to hospital in Anchorage on the 25th. Previously, another worker with breathing difficulties had been treated for medical treatment.
In recent days, five workers have been sent to the hospital at the processing plant, including two patients who were sent to the hospital on the 25th. Not all five people are infected with COVID-19.
On the 17th, four workers at the processing plant tested positive for COVID-19. Last week, Poseidon Fork Marine announced that it would temporarily close its processing plant for three weeks due to the outbreak of the pandemic.
The company said it would continue to pay workers during the closure of the processing plant. In addition, two other processing plants in the state were temporarily closed due to the outbreak.
It is not clear how the coronavirus entered the processing plant. “In response to the pandemic, the processing plant has been closed and no employees are allowed to contact other residents,” said Joe Bondrant, CEO of Poseidon Fork Marine.
“At this point, the company is taking all appropriate measures to stop the virus from spreading further among workers,” said Alaska Emergency Management Officer Thomas Kolosky. End)
