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Missouri expands testing related to meat plants

Testing for COVID-19 is taking place this week at Missouri’s Triumph Foods meat packing plant in St. Joseph, Missouri where there have been positive cases.

Missouri Public Health Director Randall Williams says, “This is comprehensive surveillance testing. We do not have an outbreak there. We have a small number of cases (12) out of 28-hundred in which we are now going in and being incredibly proactive and testing everybody.”

Missouri Governor Mike Parson says testing plant workers for the coronavirus is critical to keeping the food supply chain open for the state and the nation. Parson stays testing IS available for plants that choose to test their workers.

“That’s why that is so important to be able to get out in front of this so it doesn’t expand so it gets worse. We want to make every safety precaution we can for the people that works in those plants because we’ve got to make sure those food lines are open.”

Community COVID-19 testing is taking place in two counties in Missouri where there’s a higher incidence of the illness: in Saline County where ConAgra and Cargill plants are located and in Moniteau County, where Burger’s Smokehouse has closed because of coronavirus cases.

The Smithfield processing plant in the Martin City area of Kansas City has shut down because of coronavirus cases.