SpaceX faced COVID-19 outbreak, health records show
At least 132 employees at SpaceX's California headquarters have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, marking one of the largest recent outbreaks of the virus among employers in the region.
The rocket maker has more confirmed virus cases than any other private employer in the county since November, according to public health data. Nearly 6,000 people work at SpaceX's facility in Hawthorne California, according to the Los Angeles Times, so the number of infected workers amounts to just over 2% of its workforce at the facility.
SpaceX is one of many companies owned by Tesla founder Elon Musk. The entrepreneur, ranked by Bloomberg as the richest person in the world, made headlines last year for initially resisting getting vaccinated against the disease, saying in a New York Times podcast that "I'm not at risk for COVID, nor are my kids." In November of 2020, Musk said he "most likely" had contracted COVID-19.
Cases date to September
The positive cases at SpaceX reported by local health officials date from September and are "unsubstantiated," according to an email SpaceX officials sent to its staff that CBS MoneyWatch reviewed. In the email, SpaceX said that some "employees who work in the same area contracted COVID outside of work at a non-work-related event." That lead the company to offer on-site testing and report positive cases to the Los Angeles County public health department.
"Again, it does not mean 132 employees in Hawthorne have COVID today or contracted it in the workplace," the email stated.
SpaceX had a much smaller outbreak last year in March when at least 12 employees were sent home to quarantine after testing positive, the Daily Telegraph in London reported. One of the employees who tested positive was a health care provider.
Other employers in the Los Angles area where a significant number of workers have tested positive for the virus include a FedEx facility at Los Angeles International Airport, with 85 cases, and defense giant Northrop Grumman's operation in Palmdale, California, with 33 cases, Los Angeles County health data show.
FedEx said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch on Tuesday that the 85 cases were reported between June and November. The current number of coronavirus cases at the airport are "very low," the shipping company said.
Northrop Grumman didn't respond to a request for comment.
More people getting a booster shot is the best defense against rising COVID-19 cases, Barbara Ferrer, public health director for Los Angeles County, said in a statement Monday.
"Given the rising case numbers, the high rate of community transmission, and all the evidence that, over time, our immune systems need a boost to be able to attack the COVID virus, no one eligible should delay getting their booster dose," she said.
December has been a busy month at SpaceX as employees have prepared for an end-of-year surge in launches. The company launched two Falcon 9 rockets on Saturday, sending into low orbit another 52 Starlink satellites from California in the morning and a Turkish communications satellite from Florida a little more than 15 hours later.
News of the apparent SpaceX outbreak emerged just as Omicron has become the dominant variant in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that Omicron now makes up more than 73% of new infections. That's a nearly six-fold increase compared to last week.
