VANCOUVER, Wash. — Clark County Public Health on Tuesday said it has identified 85 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in connection with an outbreak at a Vancouver fruit processing facility.
Of those 85 people, 70 are employees at Firestone Pacific Foods. The other 15 people are close contacts of workers who tested positive. Of the 70 workers who tested positive, public health officials said 21 did not have symptoms of COVID-19. It hasn’t yet been determined how many close contacts were asymptomatic.
“That’s a pretty high attack rate.I mean that’s a lot of people and I think it reinforces the idea that this is a pretty contagious disease. I mean, that’s significant,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County health officer and Public Health director
The county health department has been working with Firestone Pacific Foods to test every employee at the plant, as well as close contacts of employees who tested positive. In total, 157 workers and 83 close contacts have been tested so far, with additional testing expected.
“These cases may have gone undetected and potentially exposed others had we not facilitated testing of all employees,” said Dr. Melnick.
Clark County Public Health said there is no evidence the outbreak has spread beyond workers and their close contacts.
“We’re going to be testing more household contacts as well, close contacts so we may find more cases, that wouldn’t surprise me. I’m just hoping we can keep it contained and not spread into the greater community,” Dr. Melnick said.
Firestone Pacific Foods first discovered the outbreak on May 17 when an employee tested positive for the coronavirus. After learning of the positive test, the company shut down its production facility, but the number of workers known to be infected with COVID-19 has continued to grow as more testing has been completed. The health department said the workers are not covered by insurance, but the company paid for them to get tested.
The outbreak has had ramifications extending beyond the company. Clark County last week applied to enter Phase 2 of Washington’s reopening plan, but the county's application was put on hold due to the outbreak. There is no timeline for when Clark County might enter the second phase of reopening, which includes the limited reopening of barbershops, salons and restaurants.
In total, 510 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Clark County, including 25 people who have died. Latest numbers on the Clark County Public Health website
Production at Firestone Pacific Foods will remain halted until at least May 28, at which point the company hopes to get approval from Clark County Public Health to reopen.
Employees must get tested and follow appropriate follow-up protocol to return to work. Everyone who has tested positive is being told to isolate at home, health officials said.
KGW's Pat Dooris contributed to this report.
