Food
Coronavirus Live Updates : NPR
A meat-packing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, where a coronavirus outbreak exploded a few weeks ago, resumed operations on Thursday after a two-week closure.
The reopening of Tyson Foods' largest U.S. pork plant came the same day that health officials in Black Hawk County, where the plant is located, announced that 1,031 of the plant's estimated 2,800 employees have tested positive for the virus. That's higher than previous estimates by state officials.
While protecting workers is important, we also have to ensure farm families have a place to sell their livestock and grocery stores have food on their shelves. Planned right, using science not ideogy both can be done.
5 Ways COVID-19 Has Transformed the Food Supply Chain – AgWeb
Is the Food Supply Chain Actually Breaking? – AgWeb
Food waste–and food insecurity–rising amid coronavirus panic | Food and Environment Reporting Network
Mapping Covid-19 in meat and food processing plants | Food and Environment Reporting Network
According to data collected by FERN, as of April 24 at 12pm ET, at least 73 meatpacking and processed food plants have confirmed cases of Covid-19, and at least 15 meatpacking plants and three processed food plants are currently closed. At least 3,581 workers are confirmed sick and at least 17 have died.
NPR
Smithfield Foods, one of the biggest meat producers in the country, is operating its plant in Milan, Mo., "in a manner that contributies" to the spread of the coronavirus, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Kansas City.
The suit, brought by a plant worker identified as Jane Doe and by a nonprofit that advocates for plant workers, accuses Smithfield of failing to provide workers with sufficient protective equipment; forcing them to work shoulder to shoulder; giving them insufficient opportunities to wash their hands; discouraging them from taking sick leave; and failing to implement a plan for testing and contact tracing.