15 Workers At Indiana Meat Production Plant Contract Coronavirus

A meat production plant in Indiana was forced to temporarily close after 15 employees tested positive for COVID-19.

Tyson Foods Pork Production in Logansport had to be sanitized and disinfected before employees were allowed back to work.

Workers are now separated by plexiglass dividers and the assembly line has been slowed to keep people further apart, ABC reported.

"While we understand the necessity of keeping our facilities operational so that we can continue to feed the nation, the safety of our people remains our top priority," said Jim Schmitz, Vice President of Pork Production Operations.

Additionally, all Tyson Foods plants now have a skin-temperature monitoring machine to detect if employees have a high fever using thermal imaging.

"Our plant production areas are sanitized daily to ensure food safety, and we have stepped up deep cleaning and sanitizing of our facilities, especially in employee break rooms, locker rooms and other areas to protect our team members," Schmitz said.

"We have team members dedicated to constantly wiping down and sanitizing common areas. In some cases, this additional cleaning involves suspending a day of production. We understand everyone, including our team members, is anxious during this challenging time and we're committed in doing everything to be there for each other as we navigate through this together."

A Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, closed Sunday after hundreds of its employees tested positive for the virus. The company is the world's largest pork processor

Slaughterhouse shutdowns in response to COVID-19 cases among employees are disrupting the U.S. food supply chain, sparking fears over consumer access to meat and poultry.

However, the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), which represents companies responsible for 90 percent of red meat production and 70 percent of turkey production in the U.S., said that concern is unnecessary.

"We can't foresee a time when America would run out of meat," Sarah Little, vice president of communications at NAMI told Newsweek. "We have reserves in cold storage and we have the most abundant livestock supply in the world—so much so that we export meat."

"As these big plants go offline, there are other plants around the country that have yet to experience any coronavirus problems," she added. "We have some plants that have not been affected at all, and others that have slowed production due to illness or due to social distancing. Food is still made; it's just slower."

There are now more than 825,000 confirmed coronavirus cases across the U.S., with over 45,000 deaths. More than 75,000 people in the U.S. have recovered from the disease. The chart below, provided by Statista, shows confirmed COVID-19 cases across the country as of April 21.