Smithfield Foods’ plant in Monmouth announced Friday that they will suspend operations at their facility beginning next week until further notice.
They say it’s related to a “small portion” of the plant’s 1,700 employees testing positive for COVID-19.
WGIL has reported on at least 3 of those cases that were reported by the Warren County Health Department, but it’s not publicly known how many Smithfield employees are positive for COVID-19.
Employees will be paid during the length of the closure according to a release from the company.
Smithfield produces about three percent of the U.S. supply of fresh pork and also produces bacon.
Smithfield in their news release says that the “inherent nature” of meat processing, which is labor-intensive, assembly-line style production, makes social distancing particularly challenging.
