COVID-19 outbreak at Smithfield plant in Missouri likely larger than originally known

The COVID-19 outbreak at Smithfield Foods’ northern Missouri plant — the focus of a worker safety lawsuit that garnered national attention last year — resulted in two worker deaths and was worse than previously thought, according to newly obtained federal documents.

Early on in the pandemic, the Sullivan County Health Department told local news station KTVO that 14 workers in Milan plant had tested positive. And in late May 2020, the local hospital director told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that 35 cases were tied to the plant. Since then, the health department and the company have declined to provide figures that would show the outbreak’s scope.

But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the total number of cases was likely more than double what has been previously reported. By the end of May 2020, at least 77 workers were presumed to be positive for the virus, and more than 300 were either suspected to have the virus or had been in close contact with a positive case.

Also, at least two workers at the plant died from the virus last year, according to the OSHA inspections obtained by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. One died July 7, 2020, and the other died Oct. 22, 2020.

Read more: https://missouriindependent.com/2021/05/17/covid-19-outbreak-at-smithfield-plant-in-missouri-likely-larger-than-originally-known/