St. Charles Smithfield Worker Died From Coronavirus: Officials

ST. CHARLES, IL — A week after shutting down Smithfield Foods’ St. Charles meat processing facility due to concerns over its efforts to protect workers amid the coronavirus pandemic, Kane County Health Department officials confirmed an employee at the plant has died after contracting the virus.

“We are saddened to learn of the death of a worker from the Smithfield plant in St. Charles,” Health Department Executive Director Barbara Jeffers said Friday in a news release. “The Kane County Health Department extends our condolences to the family. We are continuing our investigation at the facility to assure worker safety when the plant reopens.”

A 64-year-old woman, who last worked at the plant April 3, died from coronavirus-related conditions, according to a report by ABC 7. The woman’s family said she did not have protective gear to wear at the facility and she was concerned by standing close to dozens of other employees while working, the report states.

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ABC 7 reports at least 20 workers at the plant have tested positive for the coronavirus. Smithfield Foods has agreed to pay for testing for all of its employees at the St. Charles plant, the release states.

The Kane County Health Department ordered Smithfield Foods to shutter operations in St. Charles on April 24. Officials from the county and state health departments and the Illinois Attorney General's office have been working with Smithfield representatives since the voluntary closure “to review mitigation efforts, as well as to provide recommendations relative to social distancing and other employee safety measures, including personal protective equipment,” the release states.

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The St. Charles plant is not accepting any new raw food product for processing during the closure, according to health officials. The plant restarted limited operations Wednesday after implementing additional worker safety measures to package, with workers packaging and shipping the plant’s existing product, the release states.

Smithfield Foods Plant Ordered To Close Amid Coronavirus Concerns

To fully reopen, Smithfield Foods must develop a comprehensive plan for ensuring worker safety that complies with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois Department of Public Health, the release states. No date has been set for the plant to reopen. The St. Charles plant is one of several Smithfield Foods facilities that closed temporarily due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Smithfield Foods also announced last week that it would "proactively suspend operations" at its plant in Monmouth, Illinois, after "a small portion of its 1,700 employees tested positive for COVID-19." A Smithfield facility in Wisconsin has also temporarily closed.

The closure in St. Charles came days after a worker filed a lawsuit against Smithfield alleging unsafe working conditions at a plant in Missouri.