Three at the waste isolation pilot plant reportedly inflamed coVID-19 last week, raising the total number of positive cases related to the nuclear waste facility to 23.
On August 27, a nuclear Waste Partnership worker, the contractor who oversees WIPP’s day-to-day operations, tested positive for the virus after falling ill read a WIPP press release.
The worker worked at the WIPP facility but had not been on site since August 7, he said.
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The report followed two positive cases shown on 26 August, both symptomatic and the last on 20 August, read in the statement.
Recent cases have brought the total number of positive cases of the Nuclear Waste Association to 18, and 3 of those affected were recovered.
“All contact and disinfection search protocols have been completed,” it reads.”Employees who may have been in prolonged contact with inflamed have been reported and quarantined.”
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On August 14, nuclear Waste Partnership reported that its sixteenth worker tested positive for COVID-19 and arrived for the last time on August 2.
Last day, 4 nuclear Waste Partnership workers reported positive effects and a fifth regulatory environmental services worker.
Two of the inflamed workers reported that they had been quarantined that day due to possible exposure and were last at the WIPP on 2 August.
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The other three were the last between August 4 and 6, read in a WIPP press release.
Earlier in the week, four other Nuclear Waste Partnership workers tested positive, 3 of whom were quarantined before the effects of the check and the last on July 30.
The fourth was also quarantined after falling ill and the last at the site on August 6.
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The third case of the Nuclear Waste Partnership was reported on 3 August, the time on 21 July and the first in June.
A CAST Specialty Trucking employee working for WIPP from the Carlsbad truck terminal reported positive control of the virus on July 8, but had no normal contact with other WIPP employees.
In May, subcontractors from WIPP Constructors Inc. and Granite Construction reported each of an inflamed worker with COVID-19, and the first positive case similar to WIPP reported in April through a worker from the Carlsbad Technical Assistance Contractor (CTAC) North Wind Portage.
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While the rest of New Mexico gave the impression of seeing some relief in its accumulation of COVID-19 cases, the southeast region continued to combat the spread of the virus.
Some public fitness restrictions were lifted last week statewide, and indoor food was reopened to limited capacity, while numbers appear to be declining.
Schools in peak counties were allowed to offer in-person courses on September 8, with the exception of six counties that saw sufficient relief in positive cases.
Chaves, Eddy, Lea, Quay, and Roosevelt counties in the southeast were eligible for the reopening of schools, as well as Hidalgo in southwestern New Mexico.
In total, the state reported 107 new instances of the virus on Sunday, falling from more than two hundred per day at the beginning of the month.
Chaves County experienced the largest buildup with 28 new cases, according to records, followed by the highest population county in Bernalillo state with 22 cases.
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Lea County had 18 news cases: the third in the state, but Eddy County had only four.
WIPP is near the Lea-Eddy County Line.
A new death has been reported, a man in his 60s in Lea County.
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In total, Lea County had 1,126 cases on Sunday, while Eddy County had 486 cases.
Bernalillo continued to lead the state with 5,795, followed by McKinley County with 4,195.
As of Sunday, 12,913 COVID-19 patients have been reported to have recovered in New Mexico, of whom they are hospitalized.
Adrian Hedden can be contacted at 575-628-5516, [email protected] or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.