Fishing boat that had COVID outbreak in Bellingham last month sees second in Alaska
One of three Seattle-based American Seafood Group LLC factory fishing vessels to have COVID-19 outbreaks revealed while docked in Bellingham last month has experienced a second coronavirus outbreak, this time while fishing in Alaska.
The American Triumph docked in the Alaska fishing port of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands has 85 crew members infected on board with coronavirus, officials said.
The American Triumph was scheduled to depart the Dutch Harbor community of Unalaska late Sunday or early Monday with a planned arrival in Seward Wednesday, Alaska’s Energy Deck reported Sunday.
The ship will carry crew members who tested positive and medical personnel. Crew are expected to be moved from Seward to an isolation location in Anchorage for further care and monitoring.
The 85 infected workers represent more than two-thirds of the crew on the ship owned by American Seafoods, one of the biggest firms in the billion-dollar Bering Sea pollock fishery.
The Triumph arrived in Unalaska Thursday with seven crew members reporting symptoms consistent with COVID-19 infection. The seven workers tested positive, leading to virus screening of the remaining 112 crew by Unalaska clinic Iliuliuk Family and Health Services.
It is not the first time the American Triumph has seen a coronavirus outbreak.
On June 4, the Whatcom County Health Department announced that four crew members aboard the American Triumph had tested positive for COVID-19 while the vessel was docked in Bellingham.
Another American Seafoods vessel docked in Bellingham at the time, the Northern Jaeger, also had 21 crew members test positive, the health department reported.
After infected crew members from the two boats were briefly isolated at Whatcom County’s quarantine facility on Byron Avenue in Bellingham, the vessels returned to Seattle to quarantine the 25 crew members.
News about the American Triumph and Northern Jaeger came days after American Seafoods announced on May 31 that 86 crew members aboard the American Dynasty trawler tested positive for COVID-19 while that vessel was docked in Bellingham. One of the infected crew members was admitted to St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham for treatment, American Seafoods, before the American Dynasty also returned to Seattle for quarantine.
The Associate Press contributed to this story.
