COVID-19 Outbreak Strikes South Bay Fish-Packing Plant: Report

MORGAN HILL, CA – A coronavirus outbreak has been linked to a Morgan Hill fish processing plant, The San Jose Mercury News reports.

Lusamerica Foods Inc. came under scrutiny in recent weeks when the spouse of an employee was hospitalized with COVID-19, the report said, citing comments Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody made during a committee meeting Tuesday.

The county subsequently tested all of the fish-packing plant’s employees and 38 came back positive, the report said.

“… all of those 38 people are of course no longer at work, and we will be returning to repeat testing” on Wednesday, Cody said, according to The Mercury News report.

No deaths have been associated with the outbreak and it isn’t known if any of the plant’s employees were hospitalized, the report said.

Lusamerica Fish Company’s Chief Operating Officer Louise Moretti told The Mercury that such outbreaks are common amid the pandemic in the food processing industry.

“We’ve been very fortunate that those that have tested positive, the majority are asymptomatic, so they are not experiencing the worst symptoms,” Moretti told The Mercury News.

Moretti told The Mercury News that the plant is continuing a testing program and has shuttered facilities such as the cafeteria and shared lockers where enforcing social distancing guidelines presents challenges.

Relatives of employees who asked not to be identified told The Mercury News that social distancing measures weren’t being enforced at the plant and that employees lacked access to sanitizing equipment.

Read more in The San Jose Mercury News