The Minnesota Department of Health reported over the weekend that 26 JBS workers and five relatives of workers have tested positive for the coronavirus.
JBS USA operates more than 60 facilities across the United States. The Worthington plant is the company’s third to shut down, joining a beef plant in Souderton, Pennsylvania, that closed for two weeks and reopened Monday, and a beef plant that remains closed in Greeley, Colorado.
Other companies have shut plants across the country because of outbreaks, including the Smithfield pork plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Cargill, Tyson Fresh Meats and National Beef say employees at their processing plants in Kansas have also tested positive. State and federal officials are working to track clusters connected to those plants. Controlling those outbreaks is crucial: Plants in southwest Kansas account for 25% to 30% of beef processing in the U.S.
A worker said National Beef resumed production at its plant in Tama, Iowa, on Monday after a two-week shutdown. Gov. Kim Reynolds said Sunday that 177 workers out of more than 500 tested positive.
Tyson said Monday that its pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa, would stay open even after dozens of employees tested positive in recent days. But the company closed its plant in Perry, Iowa, for one day Monday for cleaning. A two-week shutdown at its Columbus Junction, Iowa, plant remained in place.
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Associated Press reporters Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa, and Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, contributed to this story.
Steve Karnowski, The Associated Press
