Leah Douglas

(Reuters). Nearly 90% US processing plants had COVID-19 symptoms in 2020 and 2021 according to Reuters. The findings were made by a congressional investigation into how meatpackers dealt with the pandemic.

U.S. House Select Subcommittee for the Coronavirus Crisis started its investigation last year after evidence that plants had been major COVID-19 spreaders and workers were suffering unusually severe outbreaks. Uncertain what could happen to the investigation.

“The impact of the coronavirus on the essential workers of the meatpacking industry was both terrible and avoidable,” Subcommittee Chair Representative James Clyburn told Reuters. “As our investigation continues, I reiterate my call for meatpacking companies to make widespread changes and immediately provide safe working conditions for their employees.”

The spread of COVID-19 to meat plants was widely covered by the media during the first year. However, there has never been any information about the number of cases at major packing plants.

Meatpackers data Tyson Foods (NYSE:), The October public disclosures by JBS, Smithfield Foods, National Beef, and Cargill showed that there were 59,000 COVID-19 cases and 269 deaths in their workforce between March 2020 and February 2021. The figures for both were three-times higher than previously estimated.

Reuters compared this data which contained company location with COVID-19 instances to publicly accessible company filings. The websites also list major processing plant locations of the companies to figure the percentile of facilities having multiple cases.

Analysis revealed multiple instances at 218 plants, 247 of which were owned by five US companies over that period. It is an average of 88.2%. For each company individually, the rates ranged from 82% of JBS’62 U.S. plants – including those owned by its subsidiary Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:) – to 100% of National Beef’s eight plants.

Mark Lauritsen, representing meatpacking workers in the United Food and Commercial Workers union said that the figures were “a reflection and validation of how severe the original outbreaks were in meatpacking.”

Although reports of an outbreak at meat plants are down since the beginning of the pandemic the union and meat companies claim that Omicron-related infections have been causing problems for staffing.

Gary Mickelson of Tyson did not address the issue, but stated that $810 million has been spent on COVID-19 preventative measures. He also said that paid sick time for vaccine-infected workers was introduced this month.

Smithfield Vice President of Corporate Affairs Jim Monroe called the Reuters analysis misleading and stated that one of the reasons for high numbers of cases was because of “frequent and extensive testing” of employees. Monroe also praised Smithfield for its efforts in protecting workers, including the provision of protective equipment such as face shields and installation of sanitizer station.

National Beef, Cargill, and JBS didn’t respond to our request for comment.