JBS Pork Plant Among Meat Packing Plants Facing Scrutiny From OSHA, Congress, For COVID Outbreaks

 

By Liz Collin, WCCO CBS Minnesota

February 14, 2021

 

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ?The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to brief lawmakers on Monday in an investigation into COVID-19 outbreaks at meat packing plants across the country.

 

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis wants to know what happened that lead to the deaths of more than 250 employees and more than 50,000 infections.

 

It includes at least two deaths traced to the JBS plant in Worthington.

 

WCCO looked into what’s changed in the last year and explains why the threat of sickness still isn’t over.

 

“It has been challenging for many families especially in Worthington,?A Worthington resident and interpreter, Jose Lamas said.

 

At one point this past spring, nearly half of JBS’s 2,000 workers in Worthington tested positive for COVID-19. By summer, the company had made major changes directing employee’s movements and keeping them separated in a typically crowded workspace.

 

Still, some employees have been infected since.

 

With the help of an interpreter, Rosibel Maldonado explained that her husband is fighting the virus. A JBS employee for 23 years, the 56-year-old tested positive last month. He’s been in the hospital for the last week...

 

more, including video report [2:45 min.]

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/02/14/jbs-pork-plant-among-meat-packing-plants-facing-scrutiny-from-osha-congress-for-covid-outbreaks/