TAR HEEL — The world’s largest pork production plant has an outbreak of COVID-19.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday the plant is one of five such cases in the state. DHHS did not name any of the facilities, only the counties; a coronavirus case at Smithfield was confirmed Saturday by the Bladen County Health Department.
It is unclear how many Smithfield employees have been infected, or the counties in which they live. DHHS defines an outbreak as two or more. The company employs an estimated 4,400 to 5,000 and draws from Bladen and surrounding counties to fill those positions.
The other outbreaks at food processing facilities are in Robeson, Duplin, Lee and Chatham counties.
Smithfield Foods has yet to answer questions of how many positive cases of coronavirus are known to be linked to the plant, and what the company has done to protect workers before and since learning of the first case.
A joint press release issued Tuesday by DHSS with the N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services says the Bladen County Health Department, plant managers at Smithfield, corporate owners, community health centers and Bladen County Hospital “are working together to keep workers safe and to help ensure the world’s food supply remains stable.”
In the release, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said, “Agriculture and agribusinesses are on the front lines of this crisis just like hospital workers, first responders, grocery store staff, truck drivers and many more. Their work is different, but every bit as critically important. We are in contact with the companies, public health officials and our federal inspection partners. The companies are working to implement recommendations of the CDC and state public health and local officials to keep these facilities operating and producing a stable supply of safe and nutritious food.”
Bladen County’s statistics with DHHS indicate four positive cases of COVID-19 thus far, and one of those has recovered. One was reassigned from another county on Saturday and is not a Smithfield employee, Dr. Terri Duncan of the Health Department confirmed.
The most recent two were added to the count Monday night. It is not known if they have connection to the Smithfield plant.
Smithfield regularly adheres to standards as set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration among others. The DHHS release said OSHA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention coordinated interim guidelines for Smithfield’s plant and the four others with outbreaks.
The recommendations are adapted from those created by the CDC and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The 38-point plan is broken into an infection control plan; worksite assessments; safety practices for critical infrastructure workers who may have had exposure to a person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19; contact tracing; hierarchy of controls with respect to engineering, cleaning, administrative, and personal protective equipment; and infection control information and training for all workers.
DHHS said, in the release, food “processing plants report that they are doing temperature and symptom checks, encouraging sick employees to stay home and implementing paid sick leave for those with COVID-19 or suspected of having COVID-19. They are also providing personal protective equipment and employing social distancing policies where possible.”
Assessments at the Smithfield plant are available to be made by DHHS, the Agriculture Department, the state Department of Labor and the Bladen County Health Department. NIOSH is available for virtual support, the release said.
Smithfield has not said if it is reducing workforce. The third point of the infection control plan is to determine how the plant will operate with a reduced workforce; that does not mean it is required.
North Carolina’s unemployment benefit office has received 689,000 claims since mid-March — 6.5 percent of the state’s estimated 10.5 million total population.
The plant on N.C. 87 just south of the Cumberland County line processes approximtely 30,000 to 35,000 hogs a day.
A Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was reported to have 438 positive cases of COVID-19 last week. It had halted production on April 12 due to the outbreak. Other plants in Cudahy, Wisconsin, and Martin City, Missouri, were dependent on the Sioux Falls slaughterhouse and were closed as well.