BATH, Maine — Bath Iron Works (BIW) has identified and verified a coronavirus outbreak with 10 cases among its workforce, which includes five previously reported "potentially positive" cases of COVID-19 in workers at a Brunswick facility late last week, which were confirmed, and five new cases identified through contact tracing.
BIW says its medical staff is working in collaboration with the Maine CDC. In an update posted on Friday, BIW said both contact tracing and area disinfection were conducted immediately in every case, in anticipation of CDC-approved confirmation of the cases and in an immediate response to protect our employees and our facilities.
"BIW’s first priority is the safety of our workers and our workplace so that we can continue to perform our critical mission," BIW said. "We are taking active steps, in partnership with Maine CDC, to respond to the COVID-19 surge in Maine and across the U.S. In response to this recent increase in cases, we are immediately increasing our work from home program and also spreading our employees across all three shifts to maximize our ability to avoid transmission within the shipyard."
BIW and the Maine CDC will offer testing to employees in the areas affected by recent cases.
