Lincoln Premium Poultry has now confirmed three cases of COVID-19 among its employees at its facility in Fremont, Nebraska.
The company reported its first case of COVID-19 on April 13. Four days later, it confirmed that two more employees had tested positive.
“These two employees worked on day shift in the second processing part of our facility and worked night shift in the second processing part of our facility. Once we learned these team members were demonstrating symptoms, we advocated for testing and also removed additional employees known to be in close contact with these individuals” said Jessica Kolterman, Lincoln Premium Poultry’s director of corporate and external affairs. “All employees are self-isolating at home with pay.”
Lincoln Premium Poultry said it was hosting University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and Three Rivers Health Department officials at their facility with the hope of receiving additional guidance on further mitigation efforts they can implement. The company had previously limited visitors to the facility, stopped food service and installed dividers on tables, implemented nightly intense cleaning interventions, is taking the temperature of all entering its facilities and has provided masks to the workforce. Lincoln Premium Poultry has also provided a $2/hour increase to all hourly workers, which began in March.
“We knew that as additional testing became available we would have additional confirmed cases. We feel fortunate that with this illness being in our communities since the beginning of the year, we have not had more cases. We have been working tirelessly to advocate for our team members who become ill to receive testing and have been in constant contact with the health department and other public health officials since mid-February,” said Kolterman.
“We have appreciated the proactive approach of Lincoln Premium Poultry and the interventions they implemented early on. We look forward to continued communication and to working with them on additional measures to protect essential workers who are critical to our food system,” said Terra Uhing, executive director of Three Rivers Health.
“Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our team members. We continue to be grateful for the work they are doing to provide food to families across the country during this difficult time,” said Kolterman.
Lincoln Premium Poultry was founded in 2016 in Fremont, Nebraska and began operations on September 9, 2019.
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