Tyson Foods has temporarily halted production at its pork processing facility in Storm Lake, Iowa.
In a statement emailed to WATT Global Media on May 29, the company said the pause in production is being done due to team member absences related to the COVID-19 quarantine, and because the company is awaiting results of COVID-19 tests conducted on workers.
“We will idle harvesting animals and finish processing over the next two days. Additional deep cleaning and sanitizing of the entire facility will be conducted before resuming operations later next week,” Tyson said in a statement.
“The company is working closely with local health officials and has completed COVID-19 testing of team members and contractors at the plant. Tyson will share verified test results, once complete data is available, with health and government officials, team members and other stakeholders as part of our efforts to help communities where we operate better understand the coronavirus and the protective measures that can be taken to help prevent its spread.”
Once operations at the pork plant resume, team members at the facility will continue to have access to additional testing, daily clinical symptom screenings, nurse practitioners and enhanced education through Matrix Medical, which has a mobile unit onsite.
The company’s turkey plant in Storm Lake continues to operate.
During the past week, Tyson Foods has released the results of COVID-19 testing conducted at two of its other plants. The company said 570 of its 2,244 team members at its poultry plant in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, tested positive for COVID-19, while 257 of the 1,282 employees at its poultry plant in Temperanceville, Virginia, tested positive. All of the affected workers at both plants were placed on paid leave and may return to work only when they meet the criteria established by Tyson Foods and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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