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Coronavirus cases among employees lead to temporary closure of Delaware chicken plant

Maddy Lauria
Delaware News Journal

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Professional cleaning crews pulled into the nearly empty parking lot of the Perdue plant in Milford a few days after corporate officials said the chicken processing plants are doing everything needed to keep employees safe from the spread of the coronavirus.

That's because two employees there tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, said Perdue spokeswoman Diana Souder.

The Perdue chicken plant in Milford remained closed Monday after two employees tested positive for the coronavirus.

Souder said the company is notifying and coordinating responses with local, state and federal officials, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. The company is also interviewing the infected employees "to determine movements and contact with others," while simultaneously checking in-house cameras to see who they may have come in contact with.

"The affected associates are in quarantine for 14 days while still receiving pay and no attendance penalty, and may return to work when approved to do so by a health care provider," she said in an email Monday.

The plant remains closed Monday for a top-to-bottom cleaning and is expected to reopen on Tuesday, Souder said. The company is also notifying employees who were potentially exposed to the infected worker.

Perdue also is implementing temperature-checking across all of its facilities, she said, and reminding employees to follow proper hygiene guidelines, in addition to other measures to avoid the spread of the disease at its plants.

A few states to the south, at a Perdue plant in Georgia where workers recently walked out citing a lack of protections, company officials also confirmed an employee was found to have the coronavirus. Perdue said in a news release on its website Saturday that the employee at its Perry, Georgia, facility tested positive, local media reported over the weekend.

Last week, officials at Perdue and Mountaire Farms outlined the steps they said they've taken to keep workers and customers safe as COVID-19 cases accelerate across the United States. They said they were doing extra sanitation measures and encouraging employees to stay home if they felt ill.

There is no evidence that transmission of the coronavirus is associated with food or food packaging, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is most commonly spread between people in close contact with each other and through respiratory droplets spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

It can live on some surfaces for hours or days.

Souder said last week that biosecurity protocols and sanitation methods are meant to minimize the risk of contaminated surfaces. Poultry products continue to be inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she said.

Contact reporter Maddy Lauria at (302) 345-0608, mlauria@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @MaddyinMilford.