Hi everyone, it’s Kevin. It’s Friday afternoon, October 9th. (podcast)

COVID case rates have been ticking up in southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island since the end of the summer. We’re seeing employees testing positive at a rate of about two to three new cases a day. In fact, today we had four new cases. Over the course of this past week, four employees in Dept. 242, who are located on the west side of Building 1 in the Groton shipyard, have tested positive for COVID-19. All had symptoms of the virus.

So we’ve been taking action to be as proactive as we can to protect all our employees, and I wanted to share that with you. To prevent further spread of the virus, we have taken the following actions:

• We have sanitized the high-touch areas in the Building 1 East Side mezzanine. This includes microwaves, refrigerators, picnic tables and ATA machines, along with the lockers/tool boxes of the individuals who tested positive as well as the lockers that were adjacent.
• Also in the Building 1 East Mezzanine, from the bridge in the middle of Building 1 down to the Department 242 office space, we have treated the area with microthermal fogging. This includes the Dept. 242 work benches, material storage area, Active Learning Center, break/brief area, lockers and restroom as well as the Department 248 lockers and break/brief area.
• In the Northwest corner of Building 1, we have sanitized the locker room and office area including the high-touch areas and lockers/tool boxes.

• We are testing all Department 242 personnel who want to be tested to determine if the cluster of positive test results are isolated to 2^nd shift Department 242 personnel stationed on the East side mezzanine in Building 1 or if COVID-19 has spread to different shifts and areas of Department 242. When those results become known, we will pass on that information.
• We also moved three crews from the east mezzanine to the west mezzanine to allow for proper social distancing effective today.
• We have added additional hand sanitizing locations to both Department 242 locker rooms today.

Unfortunately, in at least one of these recent cases, an employee came to work even though they didn’t feel well. I can’t emphasize this enough – if you don’t feel well, stay home. If you think you might have COVID, you should first call your primary care provider to talk about your symptoms. You should also call your supervisor and make sure that he or she understands what you are doing. If you don’t have a primary care provider, and you’re in Connecticut, you can call 211 or visit www.211ct.org for a list of drive-up and walk-up testing sites available throughout the state at hospitals, urgent care centers and pharmacy-based testing sites. We’ll include a link in the transcript to Connecticut’s Coronavirus portal for additional information (https://portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus.) We’ll also include a link to Pixel by Labcorp, a site through which you can order a test online that will be shipped to your house.

If you live in Rhode Island, and believe you may have COVID, you should also start by calling your primary care provider and your supervisor. If you don’t have a PCP, the Rhode Island Department of Health has a list of testing sites and respiratory centers you can contact to set up a testing appointment (https://health.ri.gov/covid/testing/).

Bottom line, COVID is not going away anytime soon; in fact, it’s making resurgence in New London County and in southern Rhode Island. It’s up to each and every one of us to be responsible and take the necessary actions to prevent the spread of this virus. We’ve been conducting mask checks at the gates because, frankly, we saw that mask compliance was not where we needed it to be. We will continue to conduct checks throughout the shipyard, and if you’re not wearing your mask, there’s going to have to be some consequences. Please don’t be in that situation. We and our union partners are in lockstep on this.

The only options available to us right now to limit the spread of the virus are the same actions we’ve been taking since the beginning: wear a mask, properly—that means cover your nose with it; wash or sanitize your hands frequently; and maintain proper social distancing at all times. And if you feel sick, don’t come to work; please, stay home. These actions are entirely within our control, and by doing what we need to do, we’ll keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.

Thanks and have a good weekend. Thanks for listening. Please stay safe; stay healthy.

Kevin

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