More than 1,000 workers at the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo have tested positive for the CCP virus, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19,…
More than 1,000 workers at the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo have tested positive for the CCP virus, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to multiple reports.
Health officials in Black Hawk County, where the plant is located, said Thursday they have identified 1,031 workers at the facility who have either tested positive for the virus or for antibodies that show they were earlier infected, The Associated Press reported.
This amounts to some 37 percent of the plant’s 2,800 workers, and more than double the number that Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced on Thursday, according to Des Moines Register.
Joshua Pikora, disease surveillance and investigation manager in Black Hawk County, told the Register that the governor was referring to employees tested at the plant, not at other health facilities.
Tyson Foods reopened the Waterloo plant on May 5 after a two-week pause to test employees for COVID-19, following a surge of cases at the facility.
Before reopening, the plant was toured by numerous Black Hawk County health officials, including Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart, Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson, and UFCW Local 431 President Bob Waters.
“I had the chance to tour the Tyson plant in Waterloo and see the additional steps taken to keep the workers safe during these trying and unknown times,” Waters said in a statement.
