Tyson Foods is keeping its hog-slaughter plant in Iowa closed after two workers died and about 150 have tested positive for COVID-19.
The company is installing infrared temperature gauges that can be used to screen the health of workers and said it intends to have them in place at all of its meat-packing and poultry processing plants.
The Iowa plant, at Columbus Junction, has been closed since April 6, but the industry and the company want it re-opened as soon as possible.
In a press briefing with President Donald Trump, United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue called on employers and employees to heed advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “while keeping critical functions working throughout the COVID-19 response.”
Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said she and Purdue have agreed that it’s important to keep agriculture and food between Canada and the U.S. open.
