WEBVTT - World's Biggest Pork Processing Plant Closes Due to Coronavirus 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.960 It's Wednesday, April. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily Dive 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:07.600 podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update. 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:11.280 Worries about the food supply are growing after the world's 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.239 biggest pork processing plan had to close its doors due 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:18.440 to coronavirus. Smithfield Foods in South Dakota has seen nearly 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.800 three hundred of its employees contract COVID nineteen and will 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:24.720 be closed for at least two weeks. South Dakota did 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:27.120 not have a stay at home order in place, and 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.080 workers there had been calling for more personal protective equipment. 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:34.360 Alex Gangitano, reporter at The Hill, joins us for more. 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.800 Thanks for joining us, Alex, thanks for having me. I'm 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:41.280 going to talk about this pork processor, Smithfield Foods in 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:46.040 South Dakota. There's concerns about food supply right now after 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.760 an outbreak. They're forced them to close down. This outbreak 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.800 of COVID nineteen. Their reports have said that about three 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.520 hundred of the employees at this pork processing plant have 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.840 come down with coronavirus and it led them to close 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:02.240 down who knows how long, probably at least a couple 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:04.400 of weeks, maybe so. People can get better and they 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.839 can clean up, but there's concerns that this pork processor 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:11.040 could affect the food supply. I think they're the biggest 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:14.520 pork processing facility in the country. They account for up 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.640 to five of US pork production. Alex tell us a 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:20.880 little bit more about this. Smith Field itself is the 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.240 world's biggest pork processor, and this closed plant, like you said, 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.720 is five percent of the pork production in the US. 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.679 So the CEO of Smithfield has said it will be 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:34.400 at least two weeks that they're closed, and he actually 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.720 right away warned of potential meat shortages. We've seen type 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:42.760 in food cargild GBS. Other meat facilities also have to 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.200 shutter some of their plants because workers have gotten sick. 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:49.760 The interesting thing about this Smithfield plant is it actually 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:54.240 accounts for over half of South Dakota's overall coronavirus cases 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.280 are just workers at this plant alone. So it will 0:01:57.280 --> 0:01:59.880 be interesting to see, you know, how long they actually 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.040 do shut down. I wonder if two weeks was thinking 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.160 a little too positively here with how bad the situation is, 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.320 especially considering the report to hear about people who actually 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.080 get sick. Two weeks is a conservative estimate of them 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.520 getting better, so it could be longer for the workers themselves. 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:18.680 And a lot of the conversation around this goes back 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:22.840 to ppe personal protective equipment. There was calls before this 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.400 actually happened for more of that equipment for these processing 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:30.440 plant workers, and they said that there's no social distancing 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.440 for them there at the plant. They're working in very 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.320 close proximity to other people. They're already calls, like you 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.280 said that situations that these plants before we even knew 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.800 what the coronavirus was, were too tight of quarters, you know, 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.080 and people who were working on top of each other 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:48.360 and didn't feel safe. And now there aren't masked for them. 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:51.880 The workers aren't standing six ft apart from one another. 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.600 They're still using their break rooms, which they're all in 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:58.160 a closed room together that is probably relatively small in 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.880 comparison to the people have to be having to stand 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:04.280 six feet away. So we've heard calls now from consumer 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.120 advocacy groups and labor groups that have said, what's up 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.920 to the Trump administration and the Labor Department to provide 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:14.560 these especially because these are truly essential workers, you know, 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:16.920 in order to keep the food supply in our country. 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.160 Flowing and make people feel comfortable about the food supply 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.840 and the safety of the meat they're buying at the 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.560 grocery store and the pork they're buying. There needs to 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.280 be these personal protective equipment available to these folks and 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:33.400 more precautions in place. The FDA has tried to calm 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:37.680 those worries about people getting sick from buying these products 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.280 and whatnot. People have said it's more dangerous to go 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.320 to the actual supermarket and pick up these products than 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.280 actually getting sick from the food itself, so there should 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:50.160 be no worry on that front, at least. I spoke 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:52.520 to a scientists who agreed with the FDA and said 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.440 that he is still actively looking for evidence of food 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:59.360 born coronavirus transmission, you know, just to be extremely shure, 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.760 but basically, at this point, is more dangerous to go 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.400 to the grocery store. I guess that get sick by 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.640 another person that might be in there and infect you 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:11.000 than it is to eat meat that you buy at 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.960 the grocery store. And so I think people hopefully feel 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:16.880 better about that, But then there's always the general fear 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.640 and anxiety that so much of the country is experiencing 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:23.240 right now that you cure closures plants like this, you 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:25.839 hear about these cases that so many of the workers 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:29.160 having it, and so maybe you're less likely to buy 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:32.280 these foods just out of fear, which doesn't help of 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:36.359 course getting food and people staying satisfied, but also the 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.680 overall supply chain and getting food moving off the shelves 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.720 and into people's homes. So you know, it hurts all 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.039 of that, right, and you know people have that image 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:47.120 in their heads already empty shelves in the stores, and 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:51.000 so concerns about food supply are legitimate. Right now, it 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.240 doesn't seem like there's an emergency on that front, but 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:56.640 who knows how long this last. I know the National 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.320 Park Producers Council already said that their industry has been 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:03.120 decimated by this. Shutdowns, restaurant closures, labor shorders, all of that, 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.000 and wrapped in all of this, we look at a 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:10.000 bunch of states. I think the statistic was Americans are 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.000 at stay at home orders. South Dakota. The governor there 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.520 was one of the ones that had resisted ordering a 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.479 stay at home order. This was Governor Christie Nohem, So 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:21.920 she's getting a lot of heat from that as well. 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:25.720 This processing plants in particular is located in Sioux Falls, 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.719 and the mayor there said that I'm trying to do 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:30.800 the best I can, but without a state wide order, 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:36.040 it's basically means nothing. Her point was that situation at 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:39.320 one part of South Dakota is obviously extremely far away 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.280 from another town in South Dakota, So why trees and 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:45.039 all at the same level as opposed to having a 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:47.960 more targeted approach. But then there's also the fact that 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:52.279 it might take somebody who lives in one part of 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.320 the state could be a matter of miles away from 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.520 the closest hospital, and so you have to think about 0:05:57.520 --> 0:05:59.520 it from that level too. That's where she's getting a 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.080 lot of put back. You know, in such rural states 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:06.000 right now, hospital, the hospital beds and workers aren't as 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:10.400 plungey fall if there's an outbreak like that we've already seen. Yeah, 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.240 Governor no Um said that South Dakota is not New 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:16.680 York City, so that's probably influencing her decision on that front. 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.560 I think the biggest thing there to happen recently she 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.880 announced a clinical trial of high droxy chloroquine, So we'll 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:24.719 see how this works out. But I know that the 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.679 work processing plant right now is closed and these concerns 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.400 about food supply are gonna only get bigger depending on 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:35.360 how long it stays closed. Alex Gangitano, reporter at the Hill, 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.120 thank you very much for joining us. Yeah, thanks for 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:42.599 having me. Have a good one. I'm Oscar Ramrors and 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.880 this has been your daily coronavirus update. Don't forget that. 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:47.920 For today's big news stories, you can check me out 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.039 on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.480 follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:54.120 your podcast.