Tyson Foods Inc. released a statement Tuesday afternoon in the wake of the revelation of the high infection rate among workers at the Tyson Fresh Meats factory in Perry, where nearly 60% tested positive for COVID-19.
Liz Croston, Tyson Foods Inc. communications manager, issued the following email message Tuesday afternoon:
The health and safety of our team members is our top priority, and we take this responsibility extremely seriously. We are conducting testing of team members and will not hesitate to idle any plant for additional deep cleaning and sanitization. All team members returning to work at our facilities have been tested and any employee who has tested positive will remain on sick leave until they are released by health officials to return to work. We have implemented enhanced safety protocols to help ensure our efforts meet or exceed local, state and federal guidelines.
We’ve put in place a host of safeguards at all our facilities to protect our team members. These include:
- Taking worker temperatures and installing more than 150 infrared walkthrough temperature scanners in our facilities.
- Conducting wellness checks and screening workers for symptoms, such as coughing and shortness of breath
- Supplying facial coverings to every team member and requiring they are utilized.
- Providing additional hand sanitizer stations.
- Implementing social distancing measures, such as installing workstation dividers, providing more breakroom space, erecting outdoor tents for additional space for breaks where possible, and staggering start times to avoid large gatherings as team members enter the facility.
- Designating monitors at each facility to help enforce social distancing.
- Relaxing our attendance policy to encourage workers to stay at home when they’re sick and eliminating the waiting period for eligibility on short-term disability benefits so workers can receive pay while they’re sick with the flu or COVID-19.
- Education is an important part of our efforts and we’re doing our best to ensure our team members understand risk factors so that they can stay safe at work and at home.
Tyson Foods Inc. suspended production at its Columbus Junction plant April 6 “out of an abundance of caution” after “more than two dozen cases of COVID-19 involving team members at the facility” were discovered, according to Tyson Foods Inc. CEO Noel White.
The Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Perry employs about 1,300 workers, making it the second largest employer in Dallas County. Tyson workers are classified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers,” according to a letter issued to workers at the plant.
U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order April 28 invoking the Defense Production Act of 1950 to ensure meatpacking plants maintain production. “It is important that processors of beef, pork, and poultry (“meat and poultry”) in the food supply chain continue operating and fulfilling orders to ensure a continued supply of protein for Americans,” Trump said.
Tyson Foods Inc. is the world’s second-largest processor and marketer of meat. Along with the Perry and Columbus Junction plants, the Springdale, Arkansas-based multinational corporation operates six other plants in Iowa, including factories in Council Bluffs, Independence, Storm Lake and Waterloo. Tyson’s U.S. operations employ about 100,000 workers in 27 states.
Why are they calling employees back and telling them to come back to work as long as they do not have a fever? If they are positive. they can still work.