At Least 116 Oklahoma Meat Plant Workers, 240 in Texas Test Positive for Virus

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At least 116 employees at an Oklahoma pork processing plant have tested positive for coronavirus, Seaboard Foods spokesman David Eahart said in a statement on May 4. Meanwhile, a surge of coronavirus cases in the Texas Panhandle, a crucial region for the nation’s beef supply, has federal officials sending help to Amarillo to try to control rising numbers of infections, the city’s mayor said.

Oklahoma

The plant in Guymon has about 2,700 employees who are advised to stay home if sick, provided face masks and hand-sanitizing stations, and encouraged to maintain social distancing, Eahart said.

Texas County, where Guymon is located about 235 miles (378 kilometers) northwest of Oklahoma City, has 236 confirmed virus cases and two deaths, according to the state health department.

Eahart said about 30% of the plant’s employees do not live in Texas County, health department spokeswoman Donelle Harder said all cases and deaths would be attributed to an infected person’s county or state of residence.

Guymon is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Texas and about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Kansas.

The Seaboard plant has not closed, as some around the nation have until beginning to reopen under an executive order from President Donald Trump.

Texas

The Amarillo area is responsible for 25% of the nation’s fed beef supply, Mayor Ginger Nelson said, as the community joins others in the Midwest where the virus has sickened hundreds of meatpacking workers and threatens to disrupt the nation’s supply of pork and beef.

In Texas, more than 240 cases are linked to a JBS USA plant in Moore County, according to Lara Anton, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has previously singled out the county as an area of concern.

Confirmed cases in neighboring Potter County have doubled over the past week to more than 800, and at least nine people have died.

“I’m hopeful they will be able to help us box in where our current hot spots are,” Nelson said of the strike force coming to the area, which she expected to arrive soon as May 4. “So that we can protect our hospital capacity and begin to strategize why it is our city is having the numbers that we’re having.”

JBS USA spokeswoman Nikki Richardson said the company, although notified about the task force, does not know what their plan is or how it will affect the plant.

Meanwhile, “the facility is open and operating, despite increased absenteeism in recent weeks. We are doing our best to safely provide food for the country during a challenging time,” she said in an email.

Outbreaks have hit meat plants across the county. President Donald Trump has ordered them to remain open, while on May 4, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called the plants among “the most dangerous places there are right now.”

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on May 1 said more than 4,900 workers at meat and poultry processing facilities have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, including 20 who died. Not all states provided data.

The CDC researchers cited risks including difficulties with physical distancing and hygiene, and crowded living and transportation conditions.

Anton said a team of health experts, including those with the CDC, will be visiting processing plants in the Panhandle this week to assess and recommend safeguards.

The number of virus infections is thought to be far higher than confirmed because many people haven’t been tested and studies suggest people can have the disease without showing symptoms.

The vast majority of those infected recover.