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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2020)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2020 Pacifi c Seafood outbreak shows limits in state’s response By JAMIE GOLDBERG The Oregonian Ada Gabi Gutierrez Castañeda, 18, took a job this summer at Pacifi c Sea- food in Warrenton to help support her family after her mother’s hours at another seafood processor were cut amid the coronavirus pandemic. When the virus then infected nearly 100 work- ers from Pacifi c Seafood’s Warrenton facility, includ- ing Gutierrez, the company publicly blamed a Labor Day party some employees attended. But Gutierrez, who didn’t go to that party, thinks she got the virus on the job. The company’s own inter- nal emails show that most of those infected live in off-site housing that Pacifi c Seafood arranged, and that only eight initial cases were linked to the party. Oregon farms and food processing facilities have been linked to more than 50 coronavirus outbreaks since March, infecting more than 1,500 workers and close con- tacts, according to an analy- sis by The Oregonian. Those infections have had pro- found effects on small com- munities from Hermiston to Newport, which have suf- fered some of Oregon’s big- gest outbreaks despite their size and relative isolation. The circumstances behind Pacifi c Seafood’s Warrenton outbreak illus- trate how complicated these incidents are, and may shed a light on why Oregon has been unable to prevent a number of similar outbreaks around the state. How the virus spread Pacifi c Seafood’s War- renton outbreak has infected 95 employees since early September, marking the third-largest outbreak at a food processing plant in Oregon to date. No employ- ees have been hospitalized, according to the company. Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian A major coronavirus outbreak hit Pacifi c Seafood in Warrenton. It is the second outbreak linked to Pacifi c Seafood’s Warrenton facility following an outbreak that infected 15 people in May. Additionally, one worker tested positive before starting work at the facility in June. Another out- break at Pacifi c Seafood’s facilities in Newport in June infected 187 people and remains the second-largest workplace outbreak in the state, outside of the prison system. Additional small outbreaks occurred at Pacifi c Seafood’s facilities in Clack- amas and Charleston. After learning early last month that eight workers from the Warrenton facility had tested positive for the virus, Pacifi c Seafood tested an additional 295 employ- ees, starting with night shift employees and sea- sonal workers who live in off-site housing arranged by Pacifi c Seafood. Those tests revealed an additional 87 positive cases. Pacifi c Seafood quickly tied the outbreak to a Labor Day celebration that took place outside of work and was not organized by the company. But in an email obtained by The Oregonian, Bill Hueffner, senior direc- tor of marketing and devel- opment at Pacifi c Seafood, said that only the eight early cases could be clearly traced to the Labor Day gathering. According to the email sent by Hueffner, “the vast majority of workers who subsequently tested positive reside in the off-site seasonal housing at an area hotel.” A spokesman for Pacifi c Sea- food said the eight workers who initially tested positive live in the off-site hotel. Pacifi c Seafood works with local hotel operators and short-term accommoda- tion providers to coordinate and subsidize housing for seasonal employees brought in from elsewhere in the United States and foreign workers on temporary H2-B visas. The housing sites are not owned or managed by Pacifi c Seafood. It’s not clear whether infections fi rst spread among workers who attended the party, or if they fi rst spread at worker housing or per- haps at Pacifi c Seafood itself. And the long incuba- tion period of the virus and limitations of contact tracing mean it may be impossible WANTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 to ever know for sure. However, Gutierrez, who lives with her family in Asto- ria, believes she contracted COVID-19 during the night shift at Pacifi c Seafood. She credits Pacifi c Sea- food with taking steps to protect workers, including implementing daily tem- perature checks and pro- viding masks. Pacifi c Sea- food’s coronavirus safety plan also includes mea- sures around social distanc- ing, maintaining heightened cleaning procedures and ensuring adequate ventila- tion within facilities, among other things. But Gutierrez said employees — and even supervisors — at the War- renton facility would take their masks off during their shifts and that certain tasks required workers to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with- out any barriers separating them. She said she didn’t know of any workers who complained about possi- ble breaches in safety mea- sures, but also said supervi- sors would often refuse to talk to workers who didn’t speak English. Gutierrez worked at Pacifi c Seafood from June until September when she left the job to return to school. She clocked out for the last time on the morn- ing of Sept. 6, the day before Labor Day. Later that week, she started having trouble breathing. After a co-worker from Pacifi c Seafood informed her that he had tested positive for COVID- 19, Gutierrez decided to get tested and soon learned she had the virus. She has since recovered. “That’s the only logical place I could have caught it because all I would do is work and then come home and sleep and come back to work,” Gutierrez said. Patrick Allen, the direc- tor of the Oregon Health Authority, said in a town hall on Oct. 2 with community See Outbreak, Page A5 Grace Episcopal Church Worship: In Person or Online Sunday 8:00 am & 10:00 am - In Person Sunday 10:00 am - Online Wednesday 7:00 pm - Facebook live Food Pantry: Tues & Thurs - 9:00am to 11:30am All Covid restrictions followed: Face masks required • Social Distance kept Find us: 1545 Franklin 503-325-4691 • www.graceastoria.org • Facebook Office Hours: Tues - Fri - 9:00am to 11:00am Remembering Lonny “Skip” Dwayne Moore Lonny “Skip” Dwayne Moore, 63, of Warrenton, Oregon, passed away peacefully on September 26, 2020 after a year long battle with cancer. He was born in Astoria, Oregon on March 16, 1957 to Jim and Jean Moore, one of five brothers. Skip graduated from Warrenton High School in 1975, where he excelled at wrestling and being sarcastic. After graduation he went to work at the Warrenton Mill and later had two daughters, Stefanie and Stacey, and one son, Kevin. Skip had a very real love for the game of softball. He coached/assisted with his daughter’s softball teams in high school and went on to coach a competitive 18u team. Even after his daughters graduated, he continued to coach with a passion, sometimes a little too much passion (just ask the umpires)! Had it not been for his love of the game, he probably would have worked at the mill forever, but he was moved to swing shift and that interfered with practice and games, so he quit the mill. Skip found his career niche at the Seaside Factory Outlet Center as the maintenance and janitorial man, or as he called it: “Facilities Maintenance Engineer aka the glorified poop picker upper and mall god”. Everyone knew that you would have a friendly wave and dirty joke when you saw the green machine, except the bums, he was not friendly to those digging in his garbage cans. He prided himself on knowing everything that happened at the center. He “suffered” many years working with two women, who relied on his quick answering of the phone and problem-solving skills to keep things running, only having to temper his language and attitude occasionally. Working at the mall allowed him a flexible schedule to continue coaching, but also to fish and hunt whenever he wanted. His record number of days fishing in a row was 72! To say he loved hunting and fishing would be an understatement. He passed that love on to his son, as well as many other people. Skip loved an excuse to take someone out on the boat or out in the woods. His hobby was also taxidermy. He assisted Kent Israel Taxidermy for years, and his home reflected that. Barely able to see the walls in his living room, there was an animal in every available space and a story behind it! You could also find him cutting meat in his garage every evening in the fall. Skip, along with Butch and others, cut and wrapped deer and elk during hunting season. There were many nights of cold weather, good friends and inflated hunting stories. If you stood around too long you would be roped into helping wrap! Despite the full life of raising kids, working, coaching, hunting, fishing, taxidermy, and meat cutting he still managed to volunteer for 26 years with the Warrenton Fire Department. Skip could be very calm under pressure, able to pay attention to details, and that showed in the many calls he responded to. It was fascinating to listen to the stories he had, from arguing with his chief over whether he could use a saw on a car, to delivering a baby in a parking lot, to doing dive rescue in the river. Eight years ago, Skip made the decision to quit drinking. This decision not only improved his quality of life, but also that of others. He not only made friends during this time but influenced and encouraged others to stay on the sober path. His energy for life was renewed and with a clear, sober outlook on life his new motto became: “If it’s not fun, I’m not doing it!”. The subject that has to be mentioned, he was a die hard Raiders fan, it was his one fault. Skip was his own unique personality. Despite coming across as tough or grumpy sometimes, the one trait that resonated with everyone, besides his love of Copenhagen and diet coke, was that he had a huge heart! He was willing to help anyone, whether that be opening his home, help- ing find work, or just being a friend to listen. He will be greatly missed by all. Skip was preceded in death by his parents Jim and Jean Moore and his brother, Dwight Moore. He is survived by his daughter and son- in-law, Bo and Stefanie Ward and their children Carter and Cooper, of Canby, Oregon; daughter Stacey Moore and her children Calvin, Kiki, and Harlow, of Warrenton, Oregon; son and daughter-in-law Kevin and Leah Moore and their children, Haiden and Ava, of Redmond, Oregon; brother Ronnie Moore of Georgia; brother and sister-in-law, Mike and Kristen Moore of Warrenton, Oregon; brother, Jeremy Moore of Pend- leton, Oregon; several nieces and nephews; and numerous friends that became family. A get together to honor Skip and share stories will be held October 24th, 2020 at 2 pm at Cullably Lake, first shelter. Please maintain social distancing and wear a mask.
