After more than five months, 294 cases and six deaths, the COVID-19 outbreak at the JBS USA meatpacking plant in Greeley was decarded over as of Sunday.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment determines an outbreak is resolved when no new cases of COVID-19 have been linked to a location or event in four weeks.
Eight Colorado meatpacking plants experienced outbreaks of the new coronavirus between late March and early June. The JBS Greeley plant’s outbreak was the last to be declared over, though a Redbird Farms chicken processing plant in Englewood now has a second, separate outbreak with seven cases.
Union officials and relatives of employees who died said the company was slow to take measures to protect workers, while JBS said it promptly implemented cleaning and other measures to stop the virus from spreading.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration earlier this month announced it will levy a $15,615 against JBS for failing to protect employees at the Greeley plant from COVID-19. The union representing JBS workers blasted the fine for being too small, saying it “only incentivizes the company to continue endangering its employees.”
Nationwide, more than 16,000 workers in meat plants got sick in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and at least 86 died.
