Just days before Germany planned to ease social distancing restrictions for COVID-19, a severe outbreak of the virus at a meat processing plant has led one state to delay loosening those guidelines.
Social distancing restrictions are to be lifted on May 11 for most parts of the country, but not in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). In the city of Coesfeld, 200 employees were tested for coronavirus on Thursday, and 151 of them tested positive.
Germany has an “emergency mechanism” in loosening restrictions, which is triggered when there are 50 new cases per 100,000 people in a district or city. The Coesfeld positive tests made it 61 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which led the state to delaying its restriction easement by at least one week.
NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann said most of the 151 plant employees who tested positive for coronavirus are from Romania and Bulgaria who shared close quarters together, which likely led to the massive outbreak. He said 13 workers have been hospitalized while the rest have been sent to isolate with mild symptoms.
This particular plant has shut down until further notice, and others in the state will be tested, Laumann said.
There are 35 slaughterhouses in NRW that employ between 17,000-20,000 employees, and all will be tested, Laumann said in a DW.com report.
Earlier in the week at a plant in Bad Bramstedt, which is in the district of Segeber, 109 employees also tested positive for the virus. As was the case in Coesfeld, the employees lived in tight quarters and shared housing.
