Another Cargill meat-processing plant, this time south of Montreal, is shutting down temporarily after at least 64 workers were diagnosed with COVID-19.
Cargill says that the 64 workers represent roughly 13 per cent of its workforce at the Les Aliments plant in Chambly, Que. Three employees have also recovered.
It’s the second time that the company has had to take action against COVID-19; its beef-packing plant in High River, Alta, reopened last Monday following a two-week shutdown. More than 900 of its 2,000 workers tested positive, while at least 1,500 cases and two deaths are linked to the Alberta facility, making it the largest COVID-19 outbreak in North America.
The plant in Chambly, Que., will close Wednesday so all of its workers can be tested, after they’re able to wind down operations. A spokesperson for the union, Roxanne Larouche, says that last week 171 workers were sent home as a precautionary step. Installation of plexiglass, the use of masks and visors, as well as staggered lunch breaks were also put in place before the infections.
Larouche believes that some workers may have been contaminated because many of them live in the same households or are part of the same families.
