Good afternoon everyone, it’s Friday, April 24. (Click here for podcast.) This is my first report to you since April 20, Monday of this week. I chose not to do a podcast on Wednesday. Instead I communicated to you about the tragic and really senseless traffic fatality we had here in Groton that took one of our own on late Tuesday night.

KG: Let’s talk a little bit about what we’re doing to control the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Andrews: To start, we are following the CDC guidelines and the local Rhode Island and Connecticut Health Department rules and regulations. EB does not look or feel like it did six weeks ago. Every area of the business has made changes—some of the changes are really obvious while some of the changes are subtle and may go unnoticed unless they affect you.

KG: Let’s talk about some of the obvious improvements people have seen.

Dr. Andrews: Let’s just talk about some of the big changes first. These are the facility-wide changes that everyone will see. Some examples are everyone wearing masks, people are following the rules and wearing their facial coverings. The social distancing is obvious, no matter what line you’re in; everybody is staying six feet back. We’re opening the access points to reduce use of turnstiles. Some of the other really big changes are the altered schedule at Groton with Blue and Gold while QP has adjusted shifts. All sites have staggered breaks and lunch to promote separation. Also, some folks are able to work from home. That’s definitely new and different for EB. If you are out and about in production areas, there are now portable hand washing stations and an increase in hand sanitizer stations or pumps on the wall.

KG: One of the things I learned today is we’ve got more than 3,600 people with the capability to work from home. While that is an obvious change, I don’t know that people understand just how impactful that has been to get 3,600 employees in a position to work from home, and those numbers are increasing daily. Let’s talk about some of the less obvious things going on behind the scenes.

Dr. Andrews: I think the one that sticks out is the cleaning crews because the crews are coming in when people don’t necessarily see them; for example, on back shifts. The place feels cleaner than it ever has, we’ve got crews that also come if there’s any kind of person that we think was ill, they come and do specific cleaning. We’ve got other groups doing the general cleaning. We’ve brought in extra cleaning for that.

Medical is another area where you may not see the changes. For instance, because the Medical teams are more exposed to sick people who may be carrying the virus, we are now wearing scrubs, which is new, and washing scrubs on site so that virus does not get transported from our homes to work or from work to our homes. Another area you might not notice is onboarding, from the interviews, to orientation and training programs—all have been adjusted for this new normal.

KG: Thank you for that perspective. We hear a lot in the media about flattening the curve and controlling the spread. What else is helping us to achieve that? I’m of the view that COVID is here; unfortunately we can’t prevent it but we can do a lot to control it. Let’s talk about that.

Dr. Andrews: I think we have to give EB leadership some credit. The message from EB’s leadership, in every podcast, every memo, and signs on the gates is to not come to work if you are sick. All employees are to self-monitor prior to coming into work. Everyone should be aware of the symptoms of COVID-19 infection and check their temperature before leaving their home. Don’t come in if you have a fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat or loss of taste or smell. If you get to work, then get sick, GO HOME. If someone gets sick at work, then the medical team is investigating all the close contacts of the ill employee. Those close contacts are enrolled in a symptom and temperature monitoring program. As of now, the monitoring is being done in Groton, New London, and Quonset Point. If the needs change, the medical department is agile enough to make the needed changes.

KG: Thank you Dr. Andrews. So to follow up on one of the points you just made, the questions we ask people about their exposures, is it helpful? Dr. Hurley…

Dr. Hurley: So when a novel virus first appears on the planet, we’re uncertain whether it can be sustained through human-human transmission. When it does, it becomes an epidemic and when it spreads, it becomes a pandemic. When you look at the initial case, it’s much like the center of an archery target. The case is the center or bullseye, the people that person comes in contact with is the next outer ring and epidemics become pandemics when that second ring infects the third ring and so on. What we do by performing investigations is look at the center and the first ring and all the contacts, and if need be, we use public health guidance to quarantine, socially distance, or put masks on. So far we’ve been successful at stopping the infections in that third ring and spreading it exponentially further.

KG: Is the approach we’re taking making a difference?

Dr. Hurley: It is working because there has not been sustained human-to-human transmission demonstrated at Electric Boat. We are following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control but in essence we’re performing Public Health 101.

KG: What do you mean by that?

Dr. Hurley: In 1854, Dr. Snow in Soho, England petitioned to have the town officials take the handle off the “Broad Street Pump.” He is considered the father of epidemiology. He made this request after he performed a study which included asking people questions about where they got their groceries, lived, worshipped and where they got their water. He was able to make a map of the town outlining where people lived in the cholera epidemic. And as you can guess, all signs pointed to a cluster around the Broad Street pump! When they shut down the pump, the epidemic rapidly ended.

KG: Doc Andrews, anything to add?

Dr. Andrews: It is really important to remember that EB is part of greater communities such as the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island. This means as we have success with controlling the spread, so does the community for which we all live. Likewise, if EB does poorly with controlling the virus, this will be reflected in our communities.

The Rockefeller Foundation has released an article about the country being resilient to the virus. The article stresses the need to test, trace and support. Although EB currently cannot do all three independently, EB is supporting our employees. The different departments have teamed up so that medical, security, safety, facilities, finance, training, employment, legal, and the human resources team are all working together to make change happen. No one is working in a vacuum so that the communication flows from area to area as well as up and down.

Having said that, it is really important to remember all the basics. EB has stressed from the beginning of the pandemic and continues to stress the really fundamental concepts of social distancing and hand hygiene. In addition, we have added masks, which is just another layer of protection. It is not just about what the company has done. Success is due to each individual participant taking ownership of what they can do and what they can control.

KG: Let’s turn to what’s next. I think everyone is anxious to get back to normal in a post-COVID world. The path back to normal is an interesting one to contemplate. Doc Hurley, what do you see as the next step in the evolution of our COVID-19 crisis response?

Dr. Hurley: Every day we collect interesting data. We can now start thinking and planning about a post-pandemic period. As I see it, we have both a “Front End” and a “Back End” strategy. The front end is what we’re currently doing—identifying cases, performing surveillance, investigating these cases, quarantining where necessary, and sometimes recommending testing for the diagnosis of COVID-19. And as we’ve seen from the numbers, we’ve had people that are positive for COVID-19 that have returned to work having come through. There’s also a back-end strategy as well. This is the first wave of the pandemic and for those individuals that may have had the disease; it would be nice to know whether they have antibodies for Immunoglobulin G (IgG), which would signify that they have immunity. And in doing so, those individuals could very happily return to work.

KG: Let’s talk a little bit about testing because we are hearing so much it, and through this process I learned the difference between antigen testing and antibody testing. So let’s talk about some of the newer testing. Doc Hurley, what are you tracking?

Dr. Hurley: In the beginning, what we has was molecular testing which required having a nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swab, and they had to look at the outer coating of the virus itself. It was very long, laborious and took days for the results to come back. Manufacturers and academic universities around the globe are currently developing rapid tests to make the diagnosis as well as to demonstrate antibodies, which would suggest immunity. So currently it’s very difficult; hopefully, the new test will allow both medical professionals and in some cases homeowners to test for diagnosis. It is not available yet, but may be in the next several weeks. So both the diagnostic and immune test, which have high sensitivity and specificity, require a small drop of blood from the finger, much like a cholesterol test. Many of the individuals listening to this podcast have already experienced this at one of our health fairs, and much like the cholesterol test the findings can be revealed in 5 – 15 minutes.

This ability to rapidly diagnose disease or confirm immunity will be a blessing for all of us. EB is monitoring availability of both the rapid diagnostic as well as the post-disease immunity test.

KG: There’s a lot of discussion about whether we test everybody. What’s your view on that Doc Hurley?

Dr. Hurley: Well, we’re not there yet. If you look at some of the tests, they are being declared by the FDA under an emergency utilization authorization. Some of the initial tests have been shown to be only 30% sensitive, which isn’t very helpful, meaning that 70% of people may have had the disease, they just can’t demonstrate it.

So it’s useful information when we get good tests because as we watch the flattening of the pandemic curve, it’s also nice to suggest that people have had the disease and then have developed immunity. From a public health perspective, we know that when 50-70% of all individuals have circulating antibodies that constitutes “herd immunity.” Herd immunity means that human-to-human transmission cannot be sustained because ill people can’t transmit the disease to an immune individual.

KG: So I can see a lot of benefits of that testing long term, and I think it would do a lot to ease people’s stress and tension at this time. How does knowing who had it and who has not affect what we do at Electric Boat?

Dr. Hurley: When several criteria are met, one, they have to be available, and two, they have to show good sensitivity and specificity, we will be able to tell whether our population has IgG antibodies to COVID. With this information, we can estimate when we might return to a more normal way of life.

Knowing our workers have recovered from the disease allows the company to make good decisions in regards to staffing. Who can safely work with one another? Some easy examples are the tight and confined work spaces on the boat, in cubicles, sea trials, the Machine Shop, closed areas, and the like.

Susan spoke about it earlier, and I too believe the course management has set for us is the correct one, which is performing these initial investigations, quarantining people and instituting social distancing and masks. We all need to continue to follow core public health principles which will slow the transmission of COVID-19.

KG: Doc Andrews, anything to add?

Dr. Andrews: Well, I think that EB has changed course quicker than it has in in the past. It’s been exceedingly nimble, which is not a word I would necessarily always use to describe EB. It really comes down to demonstrating our core values of valuing each other, behaving with integrity and purpose, and committing to excellence. These core values are all over what we’re doing during this COVID crisis. Those core values have both fostered and allowed EB to provide and protect the employees by starting with the basics like hand washing and social distancing then expanding with things like flexibility for the work force and working from home.

We can never forget what our mission is and that our efforts to keep EB employees safe allow us to deliver the advantage that protects our sailors, our families and our freedom. It really is so important to remember in a pandemic time.

KG: Thank you both for taking the time to answer the questions our people are asking. And thank you to those listening for taking extra time to do the things we all can do to keep ourselves, our families and our coworkers safe. I want to remind you again of some of the basic precepts associated with this COVID-19 strategy:

Kevin

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