A seafood processing company has confirmed three new cases of COVID-19 at a Southeast Alaska plant. They’re among 10 positive tests reported by the state Monday.
The three cases are at a salmon processing plant in Excursion Inlet, a remote spot about 40 miles west of Juneau. The plant is owned by OBI Seafoods, the new company formed by a recent merger of Icicle Seafoods and Ocean Beauty Seafoods.
The three workers are all non-residents, and they were tested as part of a routine COVID-19 screening on their sixth day of a 14-day quarantine, OBI says.
All three workers were not showing symptoms but were immediately isolated. Two of the workers lived in a house away from the plant’s bunkhouse, and the third worker was living with only one other person, the company says.
There are 140 workers already at the plant, and the company plans to bring in 40 more for the summer season.
The state announced one other nonresident case of COVID-19 Monday, in a visitor to the Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area. There are also six new cases among residents: Three are from Anchorage, one is from Palmer, one is from Wasilla and one is from the North Slope Borough.
There are now 258 active COVID-19 cases in the state.
