The Department of Homeland Security is closing a string of federal immigration and border agency offices in Seattle after one federal employee became ill after visiting a local nursing home where several people have died from the coronavirus.
“Late yesterday, DHS learned that an employee at the @USCIS Seattle Field Office started exhibiting flu-like symptoms four days after visiting the nursing home in Kirkland, Washington that has seen numerous COVID-19 cases,” DHS senior acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli announced in a string of Twitter posts Tuesday. “The employee had been coming to work in the intervening days between the possible exposure (Feb. 22) and becoming ill (Feb. 26). In an effort to contain the threat of potential spread & out of an abundance of caution, the @USCIS Seattle Field Office was ordered closed.”
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(2/x) The employee had been coming to work in the intervening days between the possible exposure (Feb. 22) and becoming ill (Feb. 26). In an effort to contain the
threat of potential spread & out of an abundance of caution, the @USCIS Seattle Field Office was ordered closed…— Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli (@HomelandKen) March 3, 2020
Cuccinelli said all DHS employees who work out of the Seattle office — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Federal Protective Service — should work from home starting on Tuesday “if they are able.”
The Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, has reported four coronavirus-related deaths within the past week, more than any other place in the country. The unnamed employee did not know at the time of the visit that residents there had contracted the virus and has been out of work sick since last Wednesday, according to Cuccinelli.
“Once it was determined that patients in the facility were diagnosed with coronavirus (my understanding is he learned this from the news), the employee’s family self-quarantined and alerted employers and other relevant officials,” Cuccinelli wrote.
(4/x) As I mentioned, this decision stems from our employee visiting the Life Care
Center nursing home before it was known that residents there had contracted the
virus. When the employee began feeling ill, the employee followed procedure and
stayed at home.— Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli (@HomelandKen) March 3, 2020
It’s not clear how many DHS employees may have been exposed to the employee or whether the employee was contagious while at work last week.
More than 100 cases have been confirmed in the United States across 15 states. Six people have died from the virus, all Washington state residents.
