Twenty seafood workers were infected with coronavirus after an outbreak of COVID-19 oin the trawler of the seafood factory Watch out for the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, according to city officials.
The trawler, owned by the seafood company O’Hara, had a crew of 40 workers, according to a press release from the city of Unalaska.
Crew members from Araho arrived in Seattle’s Unalaska on Wednesday, according to Anchorage Daily News. Some crew members said on arrival that they were experiencing coronavirus symptoms, Unalaska City Manager Erin Reinders said, according to media reports.
After testing, it was found that half the crew had the virus. Reinders said a plan is being developed to take care of the virus and non-virus crew members.
The news comes as processors and seafood vessels in the Aleutian Islands have seen a recent increase in coronavirus cases. Five cases of the virus were reported on Thursday on the Island Enterprise, owned by Trident Seafoods, according to the Daily News.
Another Trident plant in Akutan was closed due to an outbreak. The factory is the largest seafood processing plant in North America, and 266 out of 705 workers contracted coronavirus at the unit.
Reinders said there were 57 cases of coronavirus related to the seafood industry in the city of Unalaska.
Alaska has reported more than 53,000 coronavirus infections since the beginning of the pandemic and 253 deaths, according to data compiled by The New York Times.