Fifty-six workers at the Copper River Seafoods processing plant in Anchorage tested positive for COVID-19, the Anchorage Health Department said in a statement Friday night, marking the latest outbreak within the Alaska fishing industry.
Almost all of the plant’s employees, which employs 134 workers, live in Anchorage Township, the health department said. An additional 30 test results have not yet been returned and 14 workers have not been evaluated, according to the department. The tests were conducted from July 17 to 22.
The Anchorage Department of Health and the Epidemiology Section of the state Department of Health and Social Services are working to track contacts. The two agencies are coordinating with Copper River Seafoods “to control this outbreak as quickly as possible and prevent further spread of the disease among coworkers, family members and the community,” said the Anchorage Health Department.
“This is a troubling situation for the people of Anchorage,” said Dr. Bruce Chandler, medical officer for disease control and prevention at the city health department. “With so many workers testing positive now, it is likely that this outbreak has been in progress for some time and that transmission has already occurred among family, friends and others in the community.”
Those who tested positive were told to follow the isolation protocols established by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the city health department said. Employees with negative test results will remain in quarantine and will be tested every three days until no further cases are identified. Health officials have instructed them and household members of those who tested positive, all considered close contacts, to follow CDC’s quarantine and self-management guidelines, according to the city health department.
Copper River Seafoods closed the plant for disinfection and deep cleaning after the first case was confirmed, the health department said.
The Copper River Seafoods plant on East First Avenue in Anchorage on Friday. (Photo from Anchorage Daily News)
Copper River Seafoods virus cases mark the third-largest outbreak in the state: An OBI Seafoods processing plant in Seward saw 98 cases among workers, and the factory tracker American Triumph identified 85 cases among the crew after docking in Dutch Harbor. The fourth largest outbreak involves 40 cases among workers at the Alaska Glacier Seafoods plant in Juneau.
This week, the state epidemiologist described a change in the composition of fishing industry workers who tested positive for COVID-19. Virus cases within the industry now increasingly involve local residents working in processing plants, individuals who come and go from the general community to closed campuses, increasing the risk of the virus spreading from one sphere to another.
Health officials continue to urge the public to cover their faces in public, stay 6 feet away from people they don’t live with, wash their hands regularly, maintain a small social bubble, and avoid large gatherings.
“Anyone who feels even slightly ill is encouraged to get tested,” said the city’s health department. “If your result is positive, contact your own close contacts if you can, to minimize the time those people could be in the community, potentially exposing others.”
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