Petersburg Pilot -

A pre-hire employee for the 2021 tanner and golden king crab season at OBI Seafoods has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center.

The individual tested positive during the cannery’s asymptomatic testing of all incoming employees, according to a press release from OBI Seafoods. The person is currently asymptomatic and is in isolation. Employees that may have come into contact with the infected individual have been identified and are in quarantine and awaiting negative test results, according to the press release.

OBI Seafoods is following its COVID-19 Community and Workforce Protective Plan that was implemented to detect the presence of the virus at an early stage and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 to other employees and the community, according to the press release.

“We are glad to see that our preseason screening protocols were able to identify this asymptomatic positive case before the season started, so we could isolate this individual and minimize possible spread,” said Mark Palmer, CEO of OBI Seafoods, in a prepared statement.

The Emergency Operations Center was reporting two active cases of COVID-19 in the community Monday morning. The recent positive case brings the total to three.

The EOC is maintaining the community risk level at yellow, or low, according to the press release.