Minnesota City Long Pairir Beef Plant

Todd County, i of rural Minnesota'due south several coronavirus hot spots, at present has more than 360 confirmed cases — most tied to a beef processing plant in Long Prairie.

Unlike other meatpacking factories that have faced criticism for moving as well slowly to address COVID-19, Long Prairie Packing Co. has earned praise from its workers union and local officials for its actions to exam and protect workers.

But the county's sharp rise in the COVID-nineteen cases demonstrates how hard it is to prevent the spread of a highly contagious disease among the crowded quarters of a meatpacking plant — and in the wider customs.

Todd County, Minn.

Jiwon Choi | MPR News

"It is a large amount in our surface area," Long Prairie Mayor Jodi Dixon said. "I know that they did their hardest to end it from happening. But as we all know, this just spreads like wildfire."

The Long Prairie plant employs 500 to 600 workers, who slaughter, process and package beefiness. It's owned by American Foods Group, which in turn is owned past Rosen's Diversified based in Fairmont, in southern Minnesota.

As of Tuesday, the Minnesota Section of Health had confirmed 249 positive cases among Long Prairie Packing workers. Calls and emails to American Foods Group seeking comment were not returned.

The Long Prairie constitute is one of several meatpacking plants in Minnesota that accept seen coronavirus outbreaks. Others include the JBS USA pork processing plant in Worthington, the Pilgrim's Pride craven plant in Common cold Spring and Jennie-O Turkey in Melrose.

While some plants take had to shut down temporarily since the COVID-xix pandemic began, Long Prairie Packing has continued to operate. Urban center leaders say it's of import to the local economy and one of its largest employers in this community of about three,300 residents.

The plant also has brought other agricultural industries and jobs to boondocks, said city ambassador Ted Gray, whose family raises beef cows.

"That's a good thing to have a processing plant still operating during a fourth dimension like this, knowing where food prices are going," Gray said.

Slowing down, spacing out

The company has washed "everything nosotros have asked" to protect workers, said Jim Gleb, secretary-treasurer for the United Nutrient and Commercial Workers Local 1189 wedlock, which represents plant workers.

That includes providing workers with barriers and personal protection equipment and sanitizing work areas and restrooms, Gleb said.

They've also provided paid training for workers on how to keep their piece of work spaces clean and what they can do at home to help prevent the virus' spread, he said. Many of the plant workers are Latino, so information about COVID-19 is likewise being provided in Spanish.

Most critically, Gleb said, the establish slowed down the speed of the production line, allowing workers to spread further apart. Information technology's a motility some other meatpacking plants have been reluctant to do, despite complaints from safety advocates in recent years that fast line speeds create condom hazards.

COVID-nineteen cases in Todd Canton

David H. Montgomery | MPR News

Slowing the line speed is "something we have asked for a long time, and this has made it happen," Gleb said.

"Information technology actually doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that if yous don't dull the concatenation speed, you lot're not going to get the distance," he said. "Everybody has to become a lot of work done in a short space. And when you're elbow to elbow, it'south certainly not social distancing."

In late May, Todd Canton Health and Human Services worked with Lakewood Wellness System to examination all establish employees for COVID-xix.

Workers who tested positive are required to isolate themselves for at least 10 days, according to Todd County. Members of their household were advised to self-quarantine for fourteen days and monitor for symptoms.

Those who tested negative must undergo a wellness screening and temperature check earlier inbound the found, the county said.

Industry changes

Subsequently an escalation of COVID-19 cases at a number of Midwest meatpacking plants in Apr, the outbreaks appear to be slowing, said Jeff Bender, director of the Upper Midwest Agronomical Condom and Health Center at the University of Minnesota.

Bender attributes that slowdown to plant owners' heightened sensation and efforts to effort to command the spread by disinfecting and providing concrete separation between employees.

"I recollect that they are trying to practise things right," he said. "Unfortunately, this virus is insidious, and when we bring people together, there's a existent run a risk for the illness transmission."

Employees at meat processing plants often work long shifts in close proximity with other workers, and share suspension rooms and restrooms, Bender said. They also frequently live in the same communities and sometimes share housing and transportation — "all factors that actually let for an ideal virus transmission scenario," he said.

COVID-19 has sparked discussion about how to redesign plants or apply more robotics or automation to brand the workplace safer, Bough said.

Those industrywide changes could stick around even after the COVID-19 outbreak subsides, and could drive up meat prices.

It's possible that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will roll out additional regulations, Bough said.

"I think that the claiming volition be some of the smaller plants that don't accept that uppercase be able to adjust or to change," he said.

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COVID-19 in Minnesota

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Source: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/06/10/long-prairie-beef-processor-among-latest-swept-by-covid19-despite-significant-prevention