COVID-19 Outbreak at SpaceX Yields 132 Positive Cases
At least 132 staffers at the SpaceX rocket factory in Hawthorne have tested positive for COVID-19 amid a large, active outbreak that coincides with a busy month of launches for the aerospace manufacturer.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released the data as part of a summary of COVID-19 cases throughout the county.
There has been at least one other outbreak at SpaceX’s corporate headquarters, where the Elon Musk-led company’s main design, manufacturing and engineering is done, including work on its Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon capsules.
In March 2020, shortly after California Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted the nation’s first lockdown amid the nascent pandemic, an employee who traveled abroad and an onsite healthcare provider tested positive for the virus. At least 12 employees who were in close contact with those people were sent home to quarantine for two weeks.
Musk initially criticized reaction to the pandemic as “dumb” and overblown, and for a time, a Bay Area Tesla automotive plant remained open last year in defiance of statewide lockdown orders before bowing to the restrictions.
More than 400 workers at the plant tested positive for COVID-19 from May — when it reopened — through December, according to public health data released by a transparency website.
SpaceX and the L.A. County health department did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday, and the circumstances surrounding the most recent outbreak were not immediately known.
The company has had four launches this month, including two last weekend that occurred on opposite coasts within roughly 15 hours of each other.
Early Saturday, SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink broadband satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Lompoc, Calif. Hours later, the company launched a Turkish communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
SpaceX’s current outbreak is the largest of 37 at Los Angeles County workplaces, food and retail stores, and places of worship, all of which the public health department refers to as non-residential settings, according to public data.
The second-largest such outbreak is at FedEx near Los Angeles International Airport, where there are 85 confirmed cases among staff members. Northrop Grumman, an aerospace and defense company, has 33 cases at a Palmdale location.
An outbreak at a non-residential setting is included on the public health department’s list if there is a cluster of respiratory illness in people associated with the setting, including at least three people who have tested positive for COVID-19.
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