BREMERTON — Melissa Brown, an electronics technician at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, started to feel sick almost two weeks ago during her work shift. She took her temperature at home and found she was running a fever.
After consulting her boss, the 39-year-old decided to stay home. She had the accumulated leave to be able to do so, and the worst of her illness was yet to come. By last weekend she became so winded from a short walk that she had to sit down. On Wednesday, in spite of restrictions that make it hard to get tested for COVID-19 for people who aren't high-risk, her primary care doctor gave her a swab in the office's parking lot.
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She remains at home pending the results, but she fears for her colleagues still going to the shipyard — Kitsap County's largest employer and one of the few places that remains fully operational during the pandemic. She's worried others could be ill with the fast-spreading virus and not know it yet.
"There is anxiety and fear over getting sick and not knowing if we are exposing others," she said. "I am staying home, but how many others are not?"
The onsite workforce has been pared down substantially. There are 6,500 workers arriving daily — about 40% of the total workforce, according to Matt Bailey, a shipyard spokesman. Arrangements have been made for workers over 60 and those who are medically vulnerable to take leave or work from home. In an unprecedented move in the shipyard's 128-year history, more than 2,000 office workers are teleworking, and shifts have been staggered to reduce exposure.
But there's no way to repair a nuclear-powered submarine remotely. And so a skeleton crew soldiers on, fixing the vessels critical to the Navy's defense of the country.
"Walking through the shipyard, it feels like a ghost town," said Eric Morse, union president of the Bremerton Metal Trades Council. "I stand amazed at what the workers are accomplishing."
With others on leave or at home, it puts pressure on workers that remain to keep working, Brown said, especially following Gov. Jay Inslee's "stay home" order issued last Monday.
"I am thankful the command is assessing daily and trying to navigate the issue with wisdom, yet when the state directs people to stay home and isolate, I feel the command should (as well)."
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Morse said leaders are navigating orders from on high as best they can. He praised the relationship between the shipyard management and the union, saying there had been a "culture" change under Capt. Diana Wolfson, its commander since June 2019. "What we’re trying to do is keep everyone as safe as they can and complete the mission," Morse said.
'Keep our ships in the fight'
Keeping the shipyard open is a matter of national security, Navy leaders say.
“The Navy and therefore the United States requires us to remain fully operational during this time of extreme difficulty,” said James Smerchansky, executive director of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), head of the country's four public shipyards. “It’s our women and men across the NAVSEA enterprise, including our naval shipyards, regional maintenance centers and warfare centers that keep our ships in the fight.”
But some workers wonder if Navy and shipyard leaders are disregarding another national call of "flattening the curve" to keep the virus from overwhelming America's health system.
Shipyard leaders say they've implemented "social-distancing" throughout the facility. Elevators are limited to three people, in-person meetings are discouraged where possible and the lunch hours have been extended to create more space between personal contact.
“We really had to think strategically, how we can accomplish our mission and yet limit the amount of individuals here at one time,” Wolfson said in a shipyard news release.
Cleaning kits were distributed to all of the shipyards shops and codes, and high-touch surfaces are cleaned daily and in some cases — such as the shipyard's turnstiles — four times a day, Bailey said. More sinks have been installed, and the shipyard has started producing is own hand sanitizer.
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But there are certain spaces where social-distancing isn't possible. On a submarine, employees work in spaces so tight that "you can smell what your coworker had for breakfast," said one shipyard worker, who asked for anonymity.
All the while, the shipyard's mission continues.
Each of the six dry docks at the shipyard is filled with vessels Navy leaders say are critical to the country's defense. USS Michigan, one of the country's four cruise-missile submarines, is receiving upgrades and preservation work. USS Louisiana, one of the nation's 14 ballistic-missile subs, is undergoing a refueling of its reactor. In the largest of the shipyard's dry docks, an overhaul and modernization of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier also continue, with work that includes preparations for the ship to carry the Navy's first squadron of F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters.
Morse, the union president, acknowledges there is some fear among the workforce.
"Employees rightfully so are on edge," he said. "We are doing the best we can. There are some that are unhappy but we have a mission to do."
So far, there hasn't been an outbreak among employees at the shipyard itself.
The first confirmed case of a worker came Thursday, but the employee hadn't been at work since March 10. Another case, a sailor stationed on the USS Carl Vinson, was reported earlier in the week and also involved someone who'd been traveling and was away from the shipyard.
Some 26 other employees, including Brown, await their own test results. She said she'll always wonder why a closure, even if temporary, didn't occur. She notes the shipyard's curtailment in December each year.
"We close for a holiday each year," she said. "Why not close for a pandemic?"
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March 29, 2020 at 01:59AM
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'Anxiety and fear' at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where mission goes on - Kitsap Sun
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