Ocean Beauty Seafoods to screen summer salmon processing workers for coronavirus

Ocean Beauty’s Kodiak plant is a major producer of fresh, frozen and canned wild salmon.

The US state has no cases of coronavirus yet but its Governor Mike Dunleavy announced an emergency declaration to the anticipated outbreak on Wednesday.

Kodiak Daily Mirror reports that major salmon processor Ocean Beauty is taking extra steps to prepare for incoming workers in the salmon season this summer.

Processing workers travelling through Seattle will be screened at a local clinic starting in May explained James Turner, the plant manager at Kodiak’s Ocean Beauty Seafoods processing plant.

“If their screening is clear then they will head to Kodiak; if not they will head back home,” Turner said. He said that the clinic will have to clear them for any respiratory issues and go through a set of criteria.

Of the 150 to 350 employees at Ocean Beauty, 40 to 50 of them are seasonal and are hired from outside of Kodiak. About 10 of those hires are from foreign countries.

Production is year-round with the facility employing nearly 300 people during the peak production season.

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