Triumph Foods in St. Joseph reports nearly 80 new COVID-19 cases since last week
At least 490 employees at the Triumph Foods plant in St. Joseph have tested positive for the new coronavirus, Missouri state health officials said in an email to The Star Friday.
The total was last updated on Wednesday, according to Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services spokeswoman Lisa Cox. It represents an increase of 78 cases at the plant since numbers were last reported on May 5.
One hundred of the total cases, Cox said, involved residents of states other than Missouri.
The plant, which employs more than 2,000 people, is the location of one of the country’s 25 largest clusters of COVID-19 cases, according to data kept by The New York Times. It saw a large spike in confirmed cases of the virus in early May after Triumph Foods instituted voluntary testing of asymptomatic workers.
In an email to The Star Friday, Christopher Clark, spokesman for Triumph Foods, said the company is considering another round of testing but that a timeline has not been set.
Workers at the plant say they are terrified of contracting and spreading the virus. A Change.org petition asking Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and President Donald J. Trump to close the plant for a week to sanitize has gained more than 3,000 signatures.
Clark said Friday that the company has no plans to shut down the plant.
“As a food production facility — even before the COVID-19 pandemic — we had to follow strict guidelines set forth by the government when it comes to cleaning and sanitation throughout the plant,” Clark said. “We have gone above and beyond our regular cleaning procedures to implement additional safety and cleaning protocols, as recommended by the CDC and other public health officials.”
This story was originally published May 16, 2020 at 1:43 PM.
