COVID-19 pandemic
Main article:
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the meat industry in the United States
In late April, 2020, an outbreak of
COVID-19 began at the Pilgrim's Pride plant in
Lufkin, Texas.
[19] On May 8, a worker at the Lufkin plant was found dead in her home after being diagnosed with Covid-19.
[20] After the
West Virginia National Guard conducted coronavirus tests of 520 (out of 940) workers at the Pilgrim's Pride plant in
Moorefield, West Virginia, 18 workers tested positive.
[21] By May 11, 194 Covid-19 cases had been diagnosed among workers at the Pilgrim's Pride plant in
Cold Spring, Minnesota, which employs about 1,100 workers. That same day, 75 to 85 cars filled with workers drove around the plant, honking horns and demanding over a loudspeaker that it be closed for two weeks.
[22] At least one worker has tested positive at the Pilgrim's Pride plant in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, and other workers have tested positive at the company's plant in
Timberville, Virginia, where dozens of workers protested in early April, although the company has declined to release the number of cases there.
[23]