More employees have tested positive at Foster Farms plants in Fresno.
Last week, we told you one plant was briefly shut down when nearly 200 employees tested positive, but the company said none of those employees showed signs of COVID. The Los Angeles Times reports fifty more employees have tested positive at other Foster Farms plants.
The company says that it is testing all employees on a weekly basis, and has so far performed more than 35,000 tests.
Right now, health care workers across the country are getting the COVID vaccine.
We are still waiting to hear where meat packers fall in line. Now, transportation workers say that they should be in the next group as well. Freight rail, port and waterway workers, along with the energy sector, want access to keep shipping supply lines open.
While we wait to see who a CDC panel recommends for that second group, it will ultimately be up to states to determine who gets it.
Perdue Farms wants the CDC to give greater guidance to the states, especially since some do not place as great a need on meat packers for early access to the vaccine.
Perdue notes that some of its employees may live in a neighboring state when a facility is near a border.
For this reason, the company says “a patchwork of state policies that prioritizes different groups may do little to stop community spread, if people are traveling between states on a frequent basis.”
