WEST LEBANON — Pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo Nordisk reported Friday that a cluster of COVID-19 cases has occurred at its production facility near Lebanon Municipal Airport and that a “limited” number of employees are now working on-site after a dozen employees tested positive for COVID-19.
“We can confirm that 12 employees at our local site recently tested positive for COVID-19 and are now isolated per state requirements,” Novo Nordisk spokesman Ken Inchausti said in a statement after the Valley News inquired about a reported outbreak at the plant.
Jake Leon, a spokesman for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, said the state was aware of “a cluster of cases” at the site.
“We’re working with them on contact tracing and infection control measures to prevent further spread of the virus,” he said.
The West Lebanon plant has 200 employees, Inchausti said.
“Because our medicines are vital to people with hemophilia and growth disorders, a limited population of employees continue to work on location under approved state guidelines, as required before the outbreak, to maintain production,” Novo Nordisk said, adding “other employees have been directed to work remotely for the foreseeable future.”
Novo Nordisk’s West Lebanon plant is a 24-hour operation and not all 200 employees are on-site at the same time, Inchausti said.