Multiple coronavirus cases reported at Tyson food plant in Claremont

CLAREMONT, N.C. — Channel 9 has learned about another COVID-19 outbreak at a local food processing plant.

It’s at the Tyson Food plant in Claremont, where town leaders said more than 700 people work.

Tyson sent Channel 9 an email Thursday afternoon saying it doesn’t plan on doing widespread testing there because the number of COVID-19 cases is less than 2%.

Family members of the plant workers said that 10 workers have been infected with the virus.

The company makes frozen prepacked sandwiches and biscuits.

The news comes after 570 people tested positive at the Tyson chicken plants in Wilkesboro.

On Thursday, the health department in Caldwell County confirmed to Channel 9 that the three deaths in the county have all been linked to the outbreak in Wilkes County.

The deaths were not necessarily all workers at the plant but family members and neighbors of Tyson workers.

The company said it does symptoms screenings for all team members before every shift, provides mandatory protective face masks to all team members, as well as barriers between workstations.

Channel 9′s Dace Faherty said Tyson has done its own testing based on how many of the workers are showing signs of the coronavirus and the spread of the virus in the local community.

Catawba County currently has around 200 cases.

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