Nearly 900 workers at a U.S. pork-processing plant test positive for COVID-19
Updated 10:46, 03-May-2020
CGTN
A Tyson Fresh Meats plant employee leaves the plant in Logansport, Indiana, U.S., April 23, 2020. /AP

A Tyson Fresh Meats plant employee leaves the plant in Logansport, Indiana, U.S., April 23, 2020. /AP

The number of reported coronavirus cases at a Tyson Foods plant in Indiana soared to nearly 900 this week and a couple hundred other employees still need to be screened. The firm's chairman has warned that supply chains could face severe disruptions due to outbreaks of the novel coronavirus within their plants and facilities.

Tyson also described the food supply chain as "breaking" as an unprecedented number of Americans seek emergency food relief at free pantries across the country.

"As pork, beef and chicken plants are being forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain," he said in a statement posted on the company's website Sunday. "As a result, there will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed."

President Donald Trump mandated meat plants remain open through the pandemic via executive order last week, telling industry CEOs the facilities and their operations were part of the nation's "critical infrastructure."

The order from Trump is intended to stave off a decision from food companies to temporarily close a majority of their processing plants, which could reduce the country's processing capacity by up to 80 percent, according to the White House.

However, meat producers with COVID-19 affected employees have had to temporarily close their facilities. According to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, a labor union, 22 meatpacking plants across the country have temporarily shuttered.

Tyson Foods had to shutter its pork processing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, while Smithfield Foods closed its pork plant in South Dakota. JBS USA temporarily shut down its meatpacking plant in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Sunday after 189 positive coronavirus cases were traced back to the facility.

The union said on Tuesday at least 5,000 meatpacking and 1,500 food processing workers have been impacted by the coronavirus, either having tested positive, missed work to self-quarantine, were waiting for results, or were hospitalized.

Twenty employees in meat packing and food processing have died, the union said.