Hanford meat processor has nearly 200 workers infected with coronavirus
Nearly 200 workers at the Central Valley Meat Co. have tested positive for COVID-19, a Kings County health official said Wednesday.
The Hanford-based meat packer had just 32 cases on April 22 but the total surged to 182 on Wednesday. More cases are expected.
“Those numbers change daily so this may be different by the end of today,” said Heather Silva, program specialist for the Kings County Department of Public Health.
Of the 182 cases connected to Central Valley Meat Co., 115 of the workers are Kings County residents, 51 are from Tulare County and 16 live in Fresno County, Silva said.
The high rate of infection at the Hanford meat packing plant is not uncommon during this COVID-19 pandemic. The virus has spread rapidly through dozens of meat plants across the United States, causing at least 40 plants to close because there aren’t enough workers.
Central Valley Meat Co. continues to operate. The company, headed by CEO Brian Coelho, employs 900 people in two locations, Hanford and Vernon in Los Angeles County. The plant runs five days a week, processing more than 1,500 cattle a day.
Company officials could not be reached Wednesday. But Kings County health officials said they are encouraging all Central Valley Meat employees and their families to get tested with their primary providers, local clinics, the state testing site in Hanford or by calling the Health Department’s special call center at 559-852-4300. Staff is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and assistance is also available in Spanish.
The county also said it follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and California Department of Public Health guidelines for the meat packing industry.
Employees at meat processors often work close to each other, allowing the highly contagious virus to easily spread. Some argue that President Donald Trump made matters worse by invoking the Defense Production Act calling for meat processors to maintain production during the pandemic.
Recently, a coalition of 20 attorneys general called on President Trump to provide protections for meat and poultry processing plant workers.
“If the President wants to force workers to toil away in extremely unsafe conditions, then he must enforce the protections they deserve,“ California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “It is unacceptable to expect working families to bear the burden of this crisis alone. We all must do our part to stand up for our collective health and safety, and that starts at the top.”
