View this post on Instagram Smithfield Foods, one of the largest contributors to the United States' meatpacking industry, has closed its Sioux Falls, South Dakota pork processing facility in response to a growing number of coronavirus cases identified among the site's 3,700 employees. In a statement shared to the company's website on Sunday, Smithfield said the plant—which implemented a temporary closure last week, meant to begin Saturday and last 72 hours—would halt its services "indefinitely." The decision followed a letter issued to Smithfield's president and CEO Ken Sullivan on Saturday, in which South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul Ten Haken asked him to suspend operations at the plant for 14 days. At the time, 238 of the state's 626 confirmed coronavirus cases had been diagnosed among its employees, comprising more than half of all cases reported in South Dakota's most-impacted county. According to South Dakota's Department of Health, an additional 104 people have been confirmed positive as of Sunday, and multiple news organizations have reported that 55 of them are Smithfield staff members. CONTINUE READING IN COMMENTS ⬇️ (Source: Newsweek) A post shared by All Creatures (@allcreaturesorg) on Apr 13, 2020 at 7:56am PDT
Smithfield Foods, one of the largest contributors to the United States' meatpacking industry, has closed its Sioux Falls, South Dakota pork processing facility in response to a growing number of coronavirus cases identified among the site's 3,700 employees. In a statement shared to the company's website on Sunday, Smithfield said the plant—which implemented a temporary closure last week, meant to begin Saturday and last 72 hours—would halt its services "indefinitely." The decision followed a letter issued to Smithfield's president and CEO Ken Sullivan on Saturday, in which South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul Ten Haken asked him to suspend operations at the plant for 14 days. At the time, 238 of the state's 626 confirmed coronavirus cases had been diagnosed among its employees, comprising more than half of all cases reported in South Dakota's most-impacted county. According to South Dakota's Department of Health, an additional 104 people have been confirmed positive as of Sunday, and multiple news organizations have reported that 55 of them are Smithfield staff members. CONTINUE READING IN COMMENTS ⬇️ (Source: Newsweek)
A post shared by All Creatures (@allcreaturesorg) on Apr 13, 2020 at 7:56am PDT