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Tyson Foods poultry plant in Wilkesboro back to normal operations after outbreak

WILKESBORO, N.C. — A Tyson Foods poultry plant in Wilkesboro announced Friday that it is back to running normal operations after temporarily limiting operations a day before because of a coronavirus outbreak there.

The facility said on Thursday that it wanted to do some additional deep cleaning after several people tested positive for the virus and other staff members are being quarantined.

The Tyson plant initially closed Saturday and was scheduled to reopen Tuesday after cleaning. The plant is normally closed on Sundays anyway.

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Tyson employs about 3,000 people at its two Wilkesboro plants.

A spokesman for the plant wouldn’t say how many employees had contracted COVID-19. But officials in Wilkes County said Friday that an outbreak at the plant is responsible for a majority of the county’s 194 coronavirus cases.

Meat processing plants across the country have seen outbreaks of coronavirus.

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