NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Newport News Shipbuilding has reported a rise of 30 new COVID-19 cases in a day, the largest spike to date.
Jennifer Boykin, President of Newport News Shipbuilding released a statement saying:
"Many have asked what we are doing about this beyond continuing our deep cleaning and enabling personal hygiene with materials and information. Our Industrial Engineering team is evaluating the locations where we see recurring exposures with an eye toward reengineering work processes to allow for greater social distancing. Likely, some of these process changes will be permanent.
One ongoing assessment is lunch break areas. Based on our contact interviews with individuals who are confirmed to have COVID-19, we are seeing exposure from lunchtime interactions growing as a result of the challenges with social distancing. We are studying options to allow greater space to enable more social distancing during lunch.
In the meantime, I implore everyone to be conscious about how closely you sit to others during lunch. COVID-19 does not clock in and out. It is around us all the time. As we all know, we have to think about preventative measures on the job and off.
I appreciate your continued suggestions for lunchtime and all the time. Please continue to send your ideas to ideas@hii-nns.com."
Over the weekend, ten cases were also reported, five Saturday and five Sunday.
There are now 50 cases reported in South Yard, 93 in Mid-Yard, 141 in North Yard and 42 reported in Off-Yard Offices.