OBI Seafoods announced on Monday, 8 February, one employee at its Petersburg, Alaska processing facility tested positive for COVID-19.
The company said in a statement the positive test came as it tests all its employees in advance of the tanner and golden king crab fishing season, which begins 17 February. All of the company’s hires for the season are local Petersburg residents, it said.
“The positive case was identified via asymptomatic testing of incoming employees. Upon learning of the positive result, OBI Seafoods immediately enacted the company protocols as per our company community and workforce protective plan,” OBI Seafoods said. “The employee was immediately isolated, and employees who might have come into contact were identified for additional testing and quarantine. “
OBI Seafoods is working with local and state officials to enact comprehensive quarantine and testing procedures, initiate a contact tracing regime, and identify and mitigate the risk to its employees and the local community, it said.
“We are glad to see that our preseason screening protocols were able to identify this asymptomatic positive case before the season started, so we could isolate this individual and minimize possible spread,” OBI Seafoods CEO Mark Palmer said. “OBI Seafoods is grateful for the rapid response from the Petersburg [Emergency Operations Center] and our ongoing partnership with them to help keep the community and our workforce safe.”
OBI Seafoods, which was created last year out of a merger of the Alaska salmon and Gulf of Alaska groundfish operations of Ocean Beauty Seafoods and Icicle Seafoods, said it will continue its preparations for the upcoming season, with health and safety precautions that include continuous COVID-19 testing of its workforce per state mandate, as well as daily symptom and temperature checks and heightened sanitary standards inside its facilities.
“While producing seafood during this unprecedented time, OBI Seafoods remains completely committed to the health, safety, and wellbeing of our employees, harvesters, and the communities where we operate. OBI Seafoods processing facilities meet or exceed the highest federal and State of Alaska standards for sanitation, cleanliness, and hygiene,” the company said. “As we continue to face operating in an unprecedented pandemic and learn more about COVID-19, we are updating our existing plans and protocols so we can continue our important role as food producers and protect our employees and communities."
Two other major seafood processing firms in Alaska have also provided updates on recent COVID-19 outbreaks in their facilities. UniSea’s Unalaska fish processing plant reopened on Monday, 1 February after shutting down for nearly a month – it closed on 5 January – after 66 of its 900 employees tested positive for COVID-19. The shutdown happened in advance of the busy pollock A season, which opened 20 January.
"The virus has not been eliminated just yet," Enlow said in an email to KUCB. "We have active cases in isolation that we are monitoring and close contacts in quarantine that we are continuing to test. But we feel very good about our response to the outbreak and containment thus far."
The financial impact from the plant closure has been "substantial," Enlow said. He called for prioritization of vaccination for seafood processors, who often work in remote locations of Alaska without easy access to advanced medical care, "regardless of their state residency status.”
In Akutan, Trident Seafood’s processing facility continues to deal with a massive outbreak, where 307 of the 706 employees originally on-site tested positive for COVID-19 since it was first discovered on-site 17 January.
“Our daily positive rate has been dropping significantly over the past week, and today’s low rate of around 1 percent indicates that our response protocols have been working,” Trident Vice President of Government Relations Stefanie Moreland said in a statement. “We have bolstered our onsite medical staff and found efficiencies in our testing protocols, which has allowed us to conduct twice-daily wellness checks, mass testing, and rapidly respond to new positive cases. Combined, this has allowed us to quickly respond to new cases, minimizing chance of further spread.”
The facility remains shuttered and all employees remain in quarantine, according to the company, which chartered flights to move all its employees 60 and older and those with underlying health conditions to Anchorage, where more substantial medical support is available, “as a precaution.”
“In the meantime, Trident is making the most of its other processing capacity – including at facilities in St. Paul, Kodiak, and Sand Point, and the M/V Independence – to keep operations moving,” the company said. “This is important to making markets available to fishermen at a key time, and it is essential to continuing to provide food for the nation and around the world.”
Additionally, Trident is conducting daily testing of all its employees using frequent rapid antigen testing and periodic PCR tests.
“With increased testing and medical capacity, as well as the evacuation of all high-risk employees from the facility, Trident is working on plans for employees who have finished their isolation and quarantine period to return to work,” the company said. “For any employees wishing to leave, Trident is arranging quarantine accommodations, meals, wellness monitoring, and testing necessary under State of Alaska mandates in preparation for safe onward travel.”
Trident CEO Joe Bundrant thanked the community of Akutan and state and local officials for its help in responding to the outbreak.
“The health and safety of our employees remains our top concern, and we will not operate in Akutan until we have confidence we’ve achieved our target of zero COVID-19 spread,” Bundrant said. “We are very close, but must remain diligent with our quarantine protocols.”
Photo courtesy of OBI Seafoods
