The fallout from Oregon’s largest COVID-19 workplace outbreak is finding its way into every corner of Newport, a fishing town of a little more than 10,000 people on the central Oregon coast.
Newport prides itself on its Dungeness crab and shrimp exports, and the Oregon Coast Aquarium draws thousands of visitors every year. Already, its economy was reeling after tourism fell and businesses were ordered to shut down to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
Vital industries had just started to return to normal under Phase 1 of Gov. Kate Brown’s reopening plans when state public health officials disclosed 125 coronavirus cases linked to a Pacific Seafood processing facility on Sunday.
Pacific Seafood ceased operations at all five of its Newport plants. The Oregon Health Authority said the outbreak is contained to Lincoln County and that risk to the public is low.
But Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer said most of those who tested positive are locals. The town’s economy is hurting again without a major fish buyer and supplier. And businesses are shutting back down to try to slow the spread of the virus.
“They live here, they work here, they’re community-based people,” Sawyer said. “And, of course, the problem with that is that people live and work with people that work in other industries.”
Such far-reaching impacts could play out again and again in Oregon communities that rely on food manufacturing employers. Food manufacturers are tied to a majority of large COVID-19 workplace outbreaks in Oregon, according to state public health officials. And with peak harvest season approaching, cases could pick up.
Even in larger communities, food processing outbreaks have had major effects. In May, Clark County’s request to move into the next stage of reopening was put on hold due to a large outbreak at a Vancouver food processing plant.
Seafood processing is the biggest type of food manufacturing in Lincoln County, said Erik Knoder, a regional economist at the Oregon Employment Department. The state exported approximately $53.8 million worth of seafood and marine products last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Most of that seafood comes into Newport or at other two points along the coast. Other industries on the coast are linked to and dependent on seafood processing.
Sawyer said it isn’t uncommon for those who work in processing plants to have a second job. When fishermen come to the processing plants to offload their catches, they interact with the workers there. Local restaurants buy from fishermen and processing plants like Pacific Seafood.
Taunette Dixon is a fisherman and president of Newport Fishermen’s Wives, a nonprofit group that helps the local fishing community. She sells fish directly to Pacific Seafood. Now that they’ve closed their plants, business is harder to come by.
“When a plant like Pacific Seafood closes down, which is the largest plant in our local area, there is no market for our fish,” Dixon said. “We are sitting at the docks.”
Before the outbreak in Newport, the fishing industry was already struggling because business had dropped at local restaurants, Dixon said. Restaurants are big buyers of fish when tourists fill the tables.
“You just look at any restaurant you go to, they all have fish on the menu, and a lot of it comes from right here,” Sawyer said.
Many restaurants closed for months until Lincoln County started to gradually reopen. Now, after reopening, the same restaurants are closing again.
Stormee Wills co-owns Sorella, a local Italian restaurant that sits near Nye Beach in Newport. Less than a month after being approved to open her restaurant to dine-in customers, she decided to close it again Sunday.
Wills said the restaurant doesn’t buy from Pacific Seafood. But because the community is so tight knit in Newport, she decided to close the restaurant to protect her employees and the community.
“A lot of employees work in multiple different places,” Wills said. “There’s people who work at Pacific Seafood and work in different restaurants. We’re such a small town — any one of us could have come in contact with anybody as this point.”
She said she didn’t realize the economic impact the first closure would have on the restaurant until after spring break, a popular time to visit Newport.
“We rely on spring break,” Wills said. “We rely on tourists to be around. That was the first time I realized this is going to be bad.”
Sorella reopened for takeout only Wednesday. But even after the restaurant opens for dine-in service again, Wills said she won’t be able to hire half as many people as normal during the summer season, due to social distancing requirements that will limit the number of customers in the restaurant.
Lincoln County has not applied for Phase 2 of reopening, although every other county on the coast has received approval to move forward.
The economic toll of the outbreak on Newport won’t surface until unemployment counts roll in later this month, Knoder said. The seafood processing industry’s employment typically peaks in summer, which is also peak tourism season for the Oregon coast.
Knoder said the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t caused a typical business recession — it’s more similar to one caused by a natural disaster.
As a small town, Newport doesn’t have access to the same resources as bigger cities to respond to the outbreak, Dixon said. Community groups, such as Newport Fishermen’s Wives, are doing their best to get help to the people who need it.
“We are lacking in donations, and yet, we’ve had more requests than we’ve ever had,” Dixon said.
As the virus spreads, so does concern among residents, Dixon said.
“There’s just a lot of fear that’s spread around the community,” Dixon said. “It gets spread quickly.”
Lincoln County officials confirmed Wednesday they are investigating more workplace outbreaks.
-- Celina Tebor
@CelinaTebor