KITTERY, Maine — Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah said Thursday that 18 people associated with Portsmouth Naval Shipyard have tested positive for COVID-19.
The cases are among people who are from different states. 13 of the cases are among Maine residents, four are among New Hampshire residents, and one is a Massachusetts resident.
Dr. Shah said one linkage they've identified that may have started the outbreak is a group of people who commuted together in a van from Sanford to the shipyard. Dr. Shah said nine of the people commuted together on a frequent basis. Seven of those nine people have tested positive.
At least two of the 18 cases are among people who are not employees of the shipyard, but rather are close household contacts of employees of the shipyard, Dr. Shah said.
Dr. Shah added that one person is considered part of the outbreak even though the person is not thought to have worked or commuted with any of the other seventeen people who tested positive. Since Maine CDC is undergoing a worksite investigation, Dr. Shah said a common question they often encounter is, "Was this person incidentally detected or part of the outbreak we are seeing?"
Dr. Shah said that as Maine CDC conducts more testing in partnership with the shipyard, they'll have a better epidemiological picture of what's going on and what the patterns of transmission that led to the outbreak actually are.
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is located in York County, which Dr. Shah said continues to be an area of concern.
"It is spreading in the community in and around York County with remarkable force," he said Tuesday.
Dr. Shah continued to say Mainers have a window of opportunity to take proper precautions to prevent the spread before the arrival of flu season. The U.S. CDC says because of the pandemic, reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses, like flu, this fall and winter is more important than ever, and say getting the flu vaccine this year is vital.
"Our approach to COVID-19 right now should not be to wait until there's a pin on the map over our town," Dr. Shah added. "Right now that pin covers the entire state of Maine."
