COVID-19 Again Sweeps Through Foster Farms Plants in Central Valley

Foster Farms is grappling with multiple COVID-19 outbreaks at three of the company’s plants in the Central Valley.

One of the facilities, a sprawling poultry processing complex in Livingston, was cleared from outbreak status in September after an earlier surge of the coronavirus infected nearly 400 workers. Nine people died.

Two of the company’s plants in Fresno are also now facing outbreaks. One of those plants, a facility on South Cherry Avenue in southwest Fresno, is experiencing a major outbreak, according to Fresno County’s interim health officer, Dr. Rais Vohra.

“We’re actively seeking information,” Vohra said at a briefing Tuesday afternoon. “There’s an investigation ongoing. We’re still trying to learn about exactly how this outbreak came to manifest.”

Dave Pomaville, director of Fresno County’s Department of Public Health, said Monday that the most recent cases at Foster Farms were detected during the week leading up to Thanksgiving. The company then began testing more workers, and a “significant number” came back positive.

So far, health officials in Fresno said they have been notified of 193 employees who have tested positive at the South Cherry Avenue plant. Pomaville said the positive cases at the company’s Belgravia Avenue facility were significantly lower.

Foster Farms spokespeople have ignored repeated inquiries from KQED for comment.

Ira Brill, Foster Farms vice president of communications, replied to all recipients of an email with questions about outbreaks at the company’s Central Valley facilities Tuesday afternoon with three words: “Continue to ignore.”

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— Alexandra Hall (ahall@kqed.org)

Copyright 2020 KQED