Tyson Foods, one of the world’s biggest meat producers, is resuming limited operations at a facility in Waterloo, Iowa, tomorrow.
“Our top priority is the health and safety of our team members, their loved ones and our communities,” said Tom Hart, plant manager of the Waterloo facility, in a news release.
The company, which employs roughly 100,000 workers, closed its pork plants in Waterloo, and Logansport, Indiana, in April so workers could be tested for the coronavirus.
The Waterloo plant closure came after weeks of public pressure. Production had already slowed there because many of its 2,800 workers had been calling out sick, and local health authorities linked the Tyson plant to 182 cases — nearly half of the county’s total.
The situation was so severe that the US meat supply could be at risk, said John Tyson, chairman of the Tyson board, in late April.
The past week has seen Tyson facilities slowly reopen across the country. The company’s pork plant in Perry, Iowa, resumed operations on Monday after being closed for coronavirus testing — making the Waterloo facility the last pork plant with fully suspended operations.
The facility’s reopening will come with a host of new safety measures, like daily clinical screenings and an onsite clinic with nurse practitioners. All the workers returning to the facility have been tested for the virus, and all those who tested positive will stay on sick leave until cleared for work by health officials, said the company’s news release.