There are now 15 employees with confirmed COVID-19 cases at Sanderson Farms Inc.
On an April 2, 2020, conference call, the nation’s third-largest integrated poultry company illuminated operational changes forced by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
More positive cases and quarantines
Sanderson CEO and Chairman Joe Sanderson Jr. said the company now has 15 employees who have tested positive for the virus and 36 more who are awaiting test results. The company announced its first COVID-19 case on March 23, 2020. As of April 1, 2020, it now more than 200 employees under quarantine at home with pay because they exhibited symptoms of COVID-19. Out of those who were quarantined since the start of the crisis, 152 recovered and returned to work.
Furthermore, Sanderson said, the company is directing 450 of its 1,500 employees working at its location in Moultrie, Georgia, to quarantine at home with pay for 14 days. Those employees live in Dougherty County, Georgia, which is seeing spiking cases of the virus. That plant is now running at half its normal capacity, he said.
On an operational basis, Sanderson said, the company is already affected by the loss of foodservice business and the rapid increase in demand for retail, traypack products. Sanderson Farms, he said, is processing too many big birds for foodservice and will need to adjust.
In response, it is reducing the number of egg sets and is removing eggs from incubators. It is also planning on processing big birds earlier than usual and shifting its production activities to get more retail products ready for market.
It is doing what it can to avoid asking employees to work on Saturdays to meet demand, but the need for fresh product over the final two weeks of March 2020 was unprecedented, Sanderson said.
The company is not expecting any major disruption in the feed or export markets due to the disease. It does, however, have a plan in place if the worst comes to pass and birds cannot be fed or processed. In that event, Sanderson said, a contingency plan already exists for euthanizing and burying the birds on the farm.
Disease response
The health and safety of employees continue to be the priority at Sanderson, the CEO and chairman said. Therefore, those who can work at home are directed to do so, and travel is suspended except for necessary day trips.
Temperature checks are now taking place on everyone before entering company property. Anyone with a temperature higher than 100o Fahrenheit is asked to seek medical help and is not permitted. Elevated sanitation measures are enacted in the plants and employee areas, too.
To keep workers on the job, the company announced an attendance bonus program for all its hourly employees. The program runs from March 30 through June 26, 2020. The company will continue to hire, too, Sanderson said, to meet production needs.
The integrator’s executives are meeting twice daily to discuss the COVID-19 situation and they appreciate the fluidness of the situation, Sanderson said. Business is expected to resume some normalcy once the viral outbreak comes to an end, but for now, its forcing adjustments.
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