Tag: meatpacking plants

Nebraska’s governor ignored public health officials who wanted a meatpacking plant closed. Now, cases are skyrocketing

AlterNet logoOn Tuesday, March 31, an emergency room doctor at the main hospital in Grand Island, Nebraska, sent an urgent email to the regional health department: “Numerous patients” from the JBS beef packing plant had tested positive for COVID-19. The plant, he feared, was becoming a coronavirus “hot spot.”

The town’s medical clinics were also reporting a rapid increase in cases among JBS workers. The next day, Dr. Rebecca Steinke, a family medicine doctor at one of the clinics, wrote to the department’s director: “Our message is really that JBS should shut down for 2 weeks and have a solid screening plan before re-opening.”

Teresa Anderson, the regional health director, immediately drafted a letter to the governor. Continue reading.

More than 300 USDA meat inspectors sidelined by coronavirus

Some 197 tested positive for the disease; 120 more are under quarantine.

More than 300 federal meatpacking inspectors are either sick from coronavirus or in self-quarantine after exposure to the virus.

As of Tuesday, 197 inspectors from the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) had tested positive for the virus, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Another 120 employees are under quarantine. A union reported three inspectors have died from the virus.

The agency has about 8,000 employees. Continue reading.