Foster Farms to temporarily close poultry plant after 8 workers die of COVID-19
Source: LA Times
Foster Farms announced Saturday that it will comply with a Merced County health department order and temporarily close one of its poultry plants in Livingston, Calif., the site of a coronavirus outbreak that has left eight workers dead.
The outbreak at the Central Valley facility has persisted for at least two months, according to the county health department. Officials said the company did not complete the widespread testing of employees that the county first recommended and then ordered.
The company said in a statement that it will close the plant Tuesday evening and will not resume operations until the evening of Sept. 7, following a deep cleaning of the facility and new rounds of testing for all 1,400 employees. In addition to the eight workers who have died of complications from COVID-19, at least 392 plant employees have tested positive, health officials said, making the outbreak one of the worst in the state.
Outbreaks are ongoing and widespread throughout multiple separate buildings at the Livingston facility, Merced County officials said. Of about 2,600 workers at the Livingston facility, 13.7% of workers have received a positive test result based on worker self-reporting. Authorities expressed concerns that the outbreak could be much worse, since universal testing of workers has not been completed.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-29/foster-farms-to-temporarily-close-poultry-plant-where-eight-workers-have-died
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