SIOUX FALLS, SD – In a report released by the Centers for Disease Control, 25.6% of employees at Smithfield Foods tested positive for COVID-19 during an outbreak that found 929 employees out of 3,635 who were tested, had become infected with the disease.
The report shows that in the space of five weeks, one COVID-19 case at the meatpacking plant grew into more than 900 cases. The report also indicates that there were more total cases at the plant than originally made public.
Following a request to close from the South Dakota Department of Health, the plant shuttered its doors April 15 to allow for an investigation and cleaning. In the report it’s noted that cases among employees and their contacts declined to approximately 10 per day within seven days of facility closure.
The CDC and the SDDOH moved quickly to inspections of the plant that led to a report released later in April. There were no mandates issued in the report but recommendations for volunteer mitigation efforts by Smithfield management. Some of those included better translations of information to employees and providing a more sanitized workplace.
When the meatpacking plant began a partial reopening in early May, under CDC guidance and the South Dakota Health Department, it began screening all employees for fever, installing physical barriers on the production line, and amending the employee dress code to include optional masks, which were later required.
Read the full CDC report here.
