Downtown Chattanooga is home to three poultry processing and packaging plants where collectively nearly three dozen workers have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
At Koch Foods, which employs about 400 workers at its Cappella Street plant in Chattanooga, 28 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. At Pilgrim’s Pride, which has about 1,200 employees at two downtown facilities, four workers have so far been infected with COVID-19.
The poultry plants are considered essential industries and President Donald Trump last month used the Defense Production Act to order poultry processors and other meat packaging plants to stay open despite concerns over the spread of the coronavirus at such facilities. Trump said operating such meat processors is critical to preventing a shortage of chicken, pork and other meat on supermarket shelves.
Both Koch and Pilgrim’s Pride are medically screening workers before they enter their plants in Chattanooga and sending home any workers with above-normal temperatures or other indications of the virus.
Pilgrim’s Pride and its parent company, JBS USA, have invested more than $100 million in extra safety equipment and procedures at its meat plants since the coronavirus outbreak began earlier this year.