The meatpacking industry ramped up production, scaled back closures and tried to return to normal even as outbreaks at plants continue to soar.
Coronavirus outbreaks at U.S. meatpacking plants continue to soar as the beleaguered industry ramps up production, scales back plant closures and tries to return to normal in the weeks after President Donald Trump declared it an essential operation.
But the number of coronavirus cases tied to meatpacking plants has more than doubled since then, topping 20,400 infections across 216 plants in 33 states, the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting found.That’s despite widespread implementation of protective measures like temperature checks, plastic barriers and social distancing meant to curb the virus’ spread inside the plants. Some of the recent outbreaks happened at facilities that had taken such steps.
Even after informing a supervisor at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service about the lax conditions inside the plants, she said, she was told that as long as she had a mask, she had to work. Otherwise, she said, she was told she could use vacation time or take unpaid leave.
“I think it’s a callous disregard for the health, safety and even lives of the people who work for you,” said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown professor and director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National & Global Health Law."Employers and government, including the president, hold a duty to every American to keep them safe, and there’s a breach of that duty."
Without the safety measures in place, the case counts might have been even higher, said KatieRose McCullough, director of regulatory and scientific affairs at the North American Meat Institute, an industry lobbying group. The USDA rescinded its policy that all at-risk inspectors can stay home, said Paula Schelling, acting president of the American Federation of Government Employee’s Council 45, citing the workplace improvements that are supposed to take place under the CDC guidance.
Order stopped a likely shutdownExperts argued Trump’s order doesn’t prevent state and local public health officials from shutting down plants, though it might have discouraged them. “Given the other meatpacking plant problems around the country, I was just very concerned that we were going to grow to a huge number of cases,” McMurray said in an interview.
Williams advised waiting on the results of some 2,800 tests the state sent to St. Joseph before deciding. And given the changes Triumph had made – including temperature checks and putting up barriers in the cafeteria – Bradley advised giving the plant time to act. To date, 490 Triumph employees have contracted the virus. One of them, a 40-year-old man, has died. He had tested positive on April 22 – the day local officials began debating whether they could close the plant.
Those guidelines take priority over any state or local order to close, according to a statement released the same day by OSHA’s lead agency, the U.S. Department of Labor. "We didn't close any down at the time because when it was kind of in vogue to close down we weren't really having any cases or not having very many cases," Smith said."Now we're having lots of cases, but we're still not closing down. ... If we can make the work site safer, that's a major control point."
“We have no regulation in place that we can hang our hat on that says, ‘Plant, you need to put these controls in place,’ ” Schelling said. “You can have the conversation, but there’s nothing enforceable that can be taken against the plant.”
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