Four food processing workers at a poultry firm in Georgia and two in Iowa died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus.
Tyson Foods spokesman Gary Mickelson said three of the employees worked at the company’s chicken processing plant in Camilla, while the fourth person worked in a supporting job outside the plant. Two other workers died in Columbus Junction, Iowa, Mickelson said. He did not say how many employees in total in the plants have the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus that emerged from mainland China last year.
“We realize everyone is anxious during this challenging time and believe information is the best tool for combating the virus,” Hector Gonzalez, Tyson’s senior vice president for human resources, said in a statement. “That’s why we’re encouraging our team members to share their concerns with us, so we can help address them.”
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents 2.000 workers at the plant, said in a statement that many employees were sick or quarantined. “It’s too little too late here,” said Edgar Fields, president of the union in a statement last week.
Several U.S. plants have closed because of outbreaks, including a large plant owned by Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that produced roughly 5 percent of U.S. pork before it was shut down after more than 518 workers became infected, in addition to 126 non-employees who have become infected after coming into contact with a Smithfield employee, according to the South Dakota Department of Health..
The plant was visited by representatives from its Chinese Communist Party-tied parent company one month before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed at the facility.
After the first illness was confirmed at the plant on March 26, the facility quickly became the epicenter of the state’s outbreak of the CCP virus. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem wrote in an April 11 letter that 238 plant employees had contracted the virus, accounting for 38 percent of the state’s confirmed cases at the time.
Executives from WH Group, Smithfield’s parent company in China, regularly visit the plant. The visit took place roughly a month after President Donald Trump had banned travel from China. All of the employees spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Smithfield Foods declined to comment to The Epoch Times; WH Group didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The Associated Press, Reuters, and The Epoch Times’ Ivan Pentchoukov and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.