77 Oregon seafood plant workers test positive for COVID-19

SAN FRANCISCO -- The US Oregon's Clatsop County said Thursday that 77 workers at its Pacific Seafood plant have tested positive for COVID-19.

A private laboratory conducted nucleic acid tests for the plant's 159 night shift workers earlier this week, and 77 tested positive, said the county's public health department.

The Oregon Health Authority is taking the lead in arranging for quarantine of the affected individuals while conducting contact tracing. The agency is also testing the plant's day shift workers of Thursday and Friday, officials said.

None of the positive cases has been hospitalized yet.

Pacific Seafood in Warrenton saw a smaller outbreak in May, when 11 employees and four close contacts tested positive for COVID-19.

As of Thursday noon, Oregon reported 382 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19, the highest daily increase since mid-July, bringing the state total to 31,865 cases. The pandemic has claimed two more lives in Oregon Thursday, bringing the state's death toll to 539, the Oregon Health Authority reported.