COVID-19: First Protein Processing Employee Deaths
COVID-19 has claimed the lives of at least three employees of America’s protein processing industries.
A longtime employee of JBS USA’s Greeley, Colo., beef plant died Tuesday night, the company has confirmed. Two workers at the Tyson Foods chicken plant in Camilla, Georgia, recently died after contracting the disease, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Saul Sanchez, 78, had worked for JBS in Greeley for more than 30 years. In a statement, the company said, “JBS USA confirmed today that a team member has died from complications associated with COVID-19. The individual worked at the JBS production facility in Greeley, Colo., providing more than 30 years of dedicated service. We are deeply saddened by the loss of our team member. We are offering support to the family and our team members during this time. Our sympathies are with our fallen friend, the family and all those impacted by COVID-19.”
Denver’s CBS4 reporter Rick Sallinger said another employee at the Greeley plant is now sick from coronavirus and on a ventilator.
JBS USA has stopped operations at its beef plant in Souderton, Pennsylvania with plans to reopen April 16, after two weeks. All other JBS USA’s plants are still open.
In Georgia, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced the deaths of the Tyson employees in a post criticizing the poultry industry’s “delayed COVID-19 response.” The union said the two workers died from the virus and “many are sick or in quarantine.” RWDSU represents 2,000 members at the Camilla facility.
In a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Tyson spokesman Worth Sparkman said: “We continue working diligently to protect our team members at Camilla and elsewhere against what many industries around the world have learned is a challenging and ever-changing situation ... We’ve been in frequent contact with the RWDSU and the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers union) about the measures we’ve taken to protect our team members.”
The statement said workers’ temperatures are being taken before they enter Tyson facilities and that they have access to protective face covering.
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