COVID-19 cases rising again at Smithfield plant as standards relax, union leader says
Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, spent hundreds of millions of dollars and assigned a team of dedicated employees to enforce social distancing and sanitize surfaces last year after the Sioux Falls plant became the site of one of the nation's largest COVID-19 outbreaks early in the pandemic.
Those monitor roles have since been cut, right as cases of COVID-19 increase nationwide; in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and at that Smithfield plant, union leaders say.
In a statement to Reuters, China-owned Smithfield Foods confirmed that it shifted the monitors' duties to other personnel starting in the second part of 2021 after vaccines became more available and the routines became “second nature.”
More: South Dakota reports 13 COVID deaths, more than 2,000 new cases
United Food & Commercial Workers Union leader B.J. Motley told the Argus Leader that many workers at Smithfield have COVID-19 once again. The company has been doing daily testing as the Omicron variant rises, but monitor duties were cut, he said.
“We have seen a drastic rise in cases in the last two weeks,” Motley said. “We believe the company can do more in enforcing social distancing and sanitizing. We believe our workers are at risk and we are doing everything we can as a union to protect our workers.”
More: How COVID-19 tore through Smithfield's meatpacking plant in 17 days
Jim Monroe, the vice president of corporate affairs for Smithfield Foods told the Argus Leader the company has "in no way rolled back COVID-19 safety protocols."
"We have invested more than $800 million to protect our team from COVID-19, hosted approximately 200 on-site vaccine drives and continue to follow all CDC and OSHA guidelines," Monroe said.
Smithfield Foods did not confirm how many workers have tested positive at the Sioux Falls plant. Motley told the Argus Leader that there were over 80 confirmed cases at the plant as of Jan. 7, though that number is likely skewed due to a lack or reporting, he added.
But Motley told Reuters the cleaning enforcements have relaxed.
"We don't have anybody monitoring social distancing. We don't have anybody wiping tables down. It's really back to normal," he told the news outlet.
Motley estimates 60% of Smithfield's workers have been vaccinated, and that boosters aren't readily available, according to the Reuters article.
The South Dakota Department of Health (DOH) also said it is available for Smithfield to assist with testing and more.
“The DOH has reached out to Smithfield and we stand ready to assist them, and any other South Dakota employer, that may need assistance regarding COVID-19," Daniel Bucheli, communications director at DOH said, and how that will "include free testing and communication materials for employees.”
Smithfield agreed to pay a $13,494 citation for its safety measures during the initial COVID-19 outbreak of over a thousand people at its Sioux Falls plant in 2020. JBS and dozens of other meatpackers were also confirmed hotspots in 2020 for the virus among workers packing and cutting meat.
More: 'Troubling betrayal': Smithfield, union officials comment on OSHA COVID-19 settlement
Brazilian-owned JBS said its Greeley, Colorado plant has an 80% vaccination rate and 35% have received boosters, while 86% of all its workers are vaccinated, based on the Reuters article. Chicken-producer Wayne Farms, has a vaccination rate of only 31% at a plant in Alabama.
The entire state of South Dakota has seen over 2,000 people test positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks.
This is a developing story. Stay with the Argus Leader at argusleader.com for updates.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Union: COVID cases rise again at Sioux Falls Smithfield Foods plant
