The Health Department in Bladen County, N.C., validated that another Smithfield Foods processing plant reported one or more favorable cases of the unique coronavirus.
The department’s director, Teresa Duncan, said companies both regional and nationwide are working to safeguard public health and ensure the safety of staff members while further reducing the spread of the virus, according to a press release acquired by local outlet WECT.
” The health and wellness of the staff members is our first concern,” stated Duncan.
The health department’s release did not suggest a precise number of cases confirmed at the plant, however the county verified there are some cases.
Saturday afternoon, a public relations representative for Smithfield stated in an e-mail to WECT that the company will not verify any favorable cases of COVID-19 at their centers out of regard for their staff members’ legal privacy.
Previously this week, reports appeared about Smithfield Foods plants in Missouri and Wisconsin that had reported cases of the virus.
A plant in Sioux Falls, S.D, which closed indefinitely on April 12, supposedly had 518 contaminated employees, with one death as an outcome of the coronavirus infection.
