CROMWELL, Ky. — As concerns about the safety of America’s food supply chain grow, more food processing plants are testing employees for the virus.
Health workers were onsite Wednesday at the Perdue chicken processing plant in Ohio County, Kentucky to test employees for coronavirus. The chicken giant employees between 1,100 and 1,200 people at the site.
They hope to have everyone tested by early Thursday morning.
“The faster we're able to start the contact investigation, the more rapidly we can have intervention on the healthcare side if needed”, a Perdue spokesperson said.
Company officials would not say what might happen if there are large numbers of positive test results, but said that they would work with public health officials.
“We have had cases at that plant, we've had cases at other plants throughout the country, but we are not talking about the number of cases because of confidentiality. We want to make sure that we are protecting our associates and the health and the safety and welfare of our associates comes first before anything we do at that plant,” Andrea Staub says.
Many of the employees carpool for financial reasons. They live in tight knit settings and are afraid not to come to work, if they or their family members have fallen ill. A family member of one of those employees spoke with us on agreement we wouldn't reveal her identity.
“They're [immigrant workers] really scared that they're going to lose their job and they're really scared that they won't be able to pay the rent.”
Company officials insist they're helping employees through pay raises and relaxed leave policies.
“We're being extremely flexible with folks that need to take care of a loved one or might not be feeling well. Again, we want to make sure that people are taking care of their families and also taking care of themselves,” Staub said.
Despite the tests being taken in Ohio County, positive results will be reported as coming from the county in which the worker lives. Unless the company or state officials release a tally, it may be difficult to know for sure how many employees test positive here for COVID-19.
The company released video of additional safety steps taken at other plants. Those precautions included taking employees temperatures as they arrived at work, PPE including masks and face shields and plexiglass protective barriers at work spaces.