Tyson Foods closes Wilkes County plant for deep cleaning amid coronavirus outbreak
Tyson Foods has suspended production for two days at one of its Wilkesboro plants amid reports of a coronavirus outbreak that is responsible for the majority of cases in Wilkes County.
Tyson Foods employs about 3,000 people in Wilkesboro at two plants: a fresh plant, which deals with raw chicken, and a foods service plant. That includes employees who work in the plants and support staff, said Derek Burleson, a Tyson Foods spokesperson.
Burleson said the fresh plant will be closed Saturday and Monday for a deep cleaning and sanitizing and will reopen Tuesday, Burleson said. The plant is typically closed on Sundays, Burleson said.
“We have idled plants around the country in a similar fashion,” he said.
Burleson wouldn’t say how many employees in Wilkesboro have tested positive for COVID-19 at the complex and whether the outbreak affected one or both plants. He said information is constantly changing and confidential to protect employees’ privacy.
But Wilkes County officials say a majority of the county’s 194 COVID-19 cases are linked to an outbreak at Tyson Foods, according to a press release issued Friday. The release did not say how many are connected to the plant.
The closing comes as groups that advocate for employees at farm and meat processing plants call for Gov. Roy Cooper to require additional protections for the workers. In a virtual news conference Friday, the N.C. Farmworker Advocacy Network, N.C. AFL-CIO and other groups asked that they be part of plant safety conversations and are told when someone tests positive, The News & Observer reported.
“We don’t know the extent to which it’s increasing because there’s no transparency around numbers, there’s no transparency from the plant’s perspective and there’s no transparency from the local public health official perspective,” said Hunter Ogletree of the Western North Carolina Workers Center.
On Thursday, a N.C. Department of Health and Human Services official said 982 workers had tested positive for COVID-19 at 20 meat processing plants in 12 counties, including Wilkes, The News & Observer reported. The state did not name the plants.
On May 4, the Wilkes County Health Department tested about 200 people at the Tyson Foods complex, according to the county’s news release.
About 19%, or 39 of the employees, tested positive, Wilkes County said.
“We do expect the case count to increase based on the onsite testing,” the county said in the release.
Burleson said all employees at both plants will be tested for COVID-19 by the end of Saturday. The company also is providing healthcare to workers through Matrix Medical Network, according to Wilkes County.
In response to COVID-19 concerns, Tyson Foods has placed hand sanitizers at plant entrances, has started taking workers’ temperatures before they start and has placed dividers between work stations, Burleson said. Social distance monitors are also watching employees to ensure safety, he said.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, the DHHS secretary, said Friday that state officials are trying to figure out how to most accurately collect and present the information on plant workers who have tested positive.