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Perdue Farms: Perry plant employee tests positive for COVID-19

In a news release Saturday, the company says one of the workers tested positive for the virus and is in quarantine.

PERRY, Ga. — Perdue Farms says one of their workers at the Perry plant has tested positive for COVID-19.

In a news release posted Saturday to their website, the company says the employee had not been to work for more than a week.

Perdue says the worker is in quarantine for 14 days with pay, but did not release further details as to which part of the facility they worked in.

This comes after about 50 employees walked out last week over COVID-19 concerns.

The release says the company has implemented "pandemic response protocols," which follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here's what those protocols are:

  • Coordinating response procedures with all pertinent parties (local health officials, onsite USDA inspector, Perdue HR and Wellness Staff, Coronavirus Response Leader, and facility Director of Operations)
  • Interviewing the affected worker to determine movements and contact with others
  • Checking security cameras to see who the employee may have been in close contact with
  • Cleaning and sanitizing the entire facility beyond the full sanitation that all facilities undergo every day, with additional sanitization conducted in areas where the employee worked during the prior 14 days.
  • Notifying employees who were potentially exposed to the affected worker and providing them with guidance for conducting a risk assessment of their potential exposure using CDC guidelines

In addition to those protocols, Perdue Farms says it's continuing preventive measures implemented earlier this month at every facility, like more thorough sanitization.

The company also extended the hours of many onsite Wellness Centers and started doing temperature checks.

Perdue says according to the CDC, COVID-19 is not known to be a food-borne pathogen. 

The diagnosed employee can return to work after being approved by a healthcare provider, according to the release.

Click here to read the full release from the company.

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FACTS NOT FEAR | At 13WMAZ, we’re focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the coronavirus. To see our full coverage, visit our site section here: www.13wmaz.com/Coronavirus.

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