EB identifies only one new case after testing 2,800 workers

More than half of 42 ill employees have returned to their jobs

After testing 2,800 employees for COVID-19, Electric Boat has identified only one additional confirmed case so far.

There have been 42 confirmed COVID-19 cases at the company. More than half of those employees have returned to work.

EB started testing its employees at its Groton shipyard on May 8. An individual who was asymptomatic tested positive, the only positive case to come out of the tests administered by the company so far, President Kevin Graney said in a memo to employees this week.

As of May 12, the company had tested 2,800 employees and received results back for 2,200 of them.

EB is offering both an antigen test, which determines if someone is currently infected with COVID-19, and an antibody test, which determines if a person has COVID-19 antibodies, indicating prior infection, to all of its nearly 17,000 employees.

The antigen test, which is sold by LabCorp, enables people to swab their own noses. Samples are sent to a lab for analysis and results are available within a couple of days.

If an employee’s antigen test comes back positive, that person must quarantine at home for a minimum of 10 days and be cleared by EB medical personnel before returning to work.

The antibody test involves a finger prick to draw a drop of blood and is administered by trained personnel. Results are provided in about 10 minutes. If an employee’s antibody test comes back positive, a second blood draw is done by a licensed phlebotomist and sent to an off-site lab for further confirmation.

Graney said Wednesday that 44 employees have had the second blood draw done and are awaiting the results.

“Those of you who have been through the rapid test know that if your rapid antibody test is positive, then you require a vial of blood to be drawn to confirm the results of that rapid test,” he said. “Once the blood draw results are known, we can correlate the two blood tests.”

Both tests are voluntary and are being offered at no cost to employees, but the company is strongly encouraging employees to get tested.

Employees who decide to take the tests sign a consent form enabling the company to access their results.

The company now has two testing sites set up in Groton and plans to test employees in New London and Quonset Point, R.I., but has yet to set a date for doing that.

Deemed an “essential” business, EB has continued to operate during the coronavirus pandemic, with nearly 4,000 employees working remotely.

Graney indicated this week that the company has fallen behind in its work. “We must make up for lost productivity as a result of the slowdown our response to the pandemic has caused,” he said. “Simply put, we are falling behind in all aspects of our business, so we will have ground to make up over time.”

The U.S. House Democrats this week introduced the “Heroes Act,” a $3 trillion bill providing additional coronavirus relief, which prioritizes hazard pay for essential workers, including shipbuilders “who are working in a shipyard performing shipbuilding or repair work under contract or subcontract to DOD for military or other national security purposes.”