Fisheries

Number of coronavirus cases among Cooke's Icicle Seafoods employees climbs

Alaska's confirmed coronavirus cases have climbed to nearly 600 as of Wednesday. There have been a total of 49 hospitalizations and 11 deaths recorded in the state.

The Northern Victor owned by Icicle Seafoods reported 4 positive COVID-19 cases Wednesday.
The Northern Victor owned by Icicle Seafoods reported 4 positive COVID-19 cases Wednesday.Foto: Kyle Stubbs
With Alaska's Bristol Bay salmon and Alaska pollock fishing now underway, 593 indviduals in the state have tested positive for coronavirus as of Wednesday, according to Alaska's Department of Health and Social Services. Nonresident cases now number 58, with seafood workers accounting for 45 of them, according to the latest state data.
On Wednesday four workers at Cooke-owned Icicle Seafoods tested positive for COVID-19. They work aboard the company's floating processing processor in Unalaska called the Northern Victor, the local news site KUCB reported. That's on top of three cases at Icicle Seafoods in Unalaska that were reported on June 4.

Icicle employees now account for seven out of the eight cases that have been confirmed in Unalaska, home to Dutch Harbor. The area is home to other processing facilities owned by Westward Seafoods, Alyeska Seafoods and Unisea.

The state agency on Wednesday announced there were 20 new cases of COVID-19 in nine communities.

Confirmed cases included seven in Anchorage, five in Homer, two in Nikiski, one in Seward, one in Sitka, one in Soldotna, one in Wasilla and one on the Kenai Peninsula Borough.

Two new nonresident cases were identified on Wednesday, one a seafood worker in the Kenai Peninsula Borough.

The seafood worker's employer has not been named so far, but several seafood companies operate on the Kenai Peninsula, including Icicle Seafoods in Seward, Copper River Seafoods in Kenai, and Marubeni-owned Inlet Fish in Kenai.

The coronavirus has also halted some pollock vessels from departing for Alaska from Seattle this week.

American Seafoods on Wednesday updated the status of its factory trawlers that last week saw new outbreaks of the coronavirus among crew members.

The company's American Dynasty, American Triumph, and Northern Jaeger vessels have moved from Bellingham, Washington, where the cases were discovered, and are now docked at the Port of Seattle, where they have undergone a deep-cleaning process, Margery Schelling, the company's executive vice president of marketing, strategy and innovation, told IntraFish.
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Published 12 June 2020, 00:40Updated 12 June 2020, 17:04
CookeAlaska salmonAlaska pollockIcicle SeafoodsAmerican Seafoods