WEST MILTON – There have been more than 50 COVID-19 instances since July 1 at the Kenneth A. Kesselring naval nuclear training site in Saratoga County, 30 newly active instances, according to the Naval Nuclear Laboratory and public aptitude officials.
To prevent spread, the State Department of Health and the Saratoga County Department of Public Health conducted network paint tests last week on 1,110 other people who exercise or paint on the sprawling, safe site on 2,500 acres in West Milton and Galway.
The tests knew 3 more cases and required the quarantine of 4 individuals.
“The final touch of these tests is vital to our workers’ fitness and public protection and will allow the Kesselring site to complete its project for the naval nuclear propulsion program,” Naval Nuclear Laboratory spokesman Gene Terwilliger said Friday.
The Kesselring is a component of the Knolls Atomic Energy Laboratory in Niskayuna, used to exercise U.S. Navy sailors in the operation of small nuclear reactors used to force Navy submarines and aircraft carriers.
It is the only onshore educational facility used throughout the Navy and, at one point, lots of academics and instructors, as well as painters and civil contractors, operate the facility and equipment, which includes two small nuclear reactors. In total, around 2,000 more people paint there, and some COVID cases are expected by officials, given the number of other people there.
“The state of New York has known that the effects of cluster testing to date are alarming and aligned with the nominal positivity rate in the region,” Terwilliger said.
The Saratoga County Department of Health reports, however, that there are currently 69 active COVID cases in the county, indicating the cluster at Kesselring represents nearly half the current cases. Saratoga County officials referred requests for comment to the Navy.
The State Department of Health praised the navy for acting temporarily to prevent further spread.
“We congratulate the kesselring site control for integrating components with the State and County Health Decompotor as a component of a competitive detection program for your staff,” said State Health Decompotor spokesman Gary Holmes. be able to help workers and the network as a whole.
The tests were conducted over five days, between July 30 and August 3. The 3 new known instances of the evidence are included in a total of 52 instances, military officials said.
In addition to the 30 active instances, another hundred people are quarantined or isolated, according to the NavyArray. It is not known if anyone was hospitalized. “For reasons of confidentiality, we don’t comment on individual cases or treatments,” he said.
The Navy says Kesselring’s workers’ corps is taking proper precautions. Since the start of the pandemic, the site has followed the rules of the Centers for Disease Control, he said, and the site exercises a strict non-public distance, disinfects, verifies temperatures, imposes appropriate protective devices and conducts an immediate search for contacts. if necessary.
Milton Town manager Benny Zlotnick said he was pleased with the way Kesselring officials had communicated with the city about the situation and believes it is under control.
“We’ve been aware of each and every step of the way,” he said. “They said they had a little higher, and then they came here and told us how they were going to do the tests. I’m very satisfied with the communications. Fortunately, they have the manpower and resources to do so.”
Contact Stephen Williams at 518-395-3086, [email protected] or @gazettesteve on Twitter.