WATERLOO, Iowa - Nineteen local elected leaders in Black Hawk County have signed a letter addressed to Tyson Foods asking the company to close its plant in Waterloo temporarily because of a COVID-19/coronavirus outbreak.
Numbers released by the state Friday showed that 138 people in Blackhawk County had tested positive for COVID-19, while one person had died
The Des Moines Register reports Blackhawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson said the community would be overrun with the virus if Tyson doesn't take proper precautions.
Thompson said the company needs to deep clean the plant and restart it on a clean slate.
At her Friday press briefing, Governor Kim Reynolds said the state's goal is to keep the plant open, and 2,700 tests had been dent to the plant and would be processed at a state lab over the weekend.
Iowa Department of Public Health Deputy Director Sarah Reisetter said the plant hasn’t reached the threshold that would require it to close.
The Register quoted Sheriff Thompson as saying, “I think Tyson is focused on production, period. I don’t think Tyson gives two (expletive) about who is filling one particular spot on the production floor that day. I think they are purely concerned about productivity at that plant.”