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An outbreak at a Calgary bird processing plant caused 15 employees to test positive for COVID-19.
Daniele Dufour, spokesperson for Sofina Foods. Inc. which operates the Lilydale plant in Ramsay at 2126 Hurst Road S.E., said the company had heard of 3 cases until the end of last week, and by Monday the number had increased to 15.
He said workers were following Alberta’s health care orders and were encouraged to take a voluntary COVID-19 test.
“Given all the measures taken to prevent threats to employees, AHS believes that the threat of spread is low and that the plant remains operational,” Dufour said.
“Our painters have painted hard to protect each other in paintings and we are grateful for their diligence. The diagnosed painters wore a mask and kept a physical distance at all times, which did not result in close contact.
The case numbers are worrying, says the union
Michael Hughes of Local 401 from United Food and Commercial Workers said the union works strongly with Sofina and Alberta Health Services, but the number of cases of great concern.
“At this time, the company and the government have tested the plant employees, we have conducted factory inspections and the company is cooperating and operating in scary spaces that we have identified,” Hughes said in an email statement.
Hughes said Monday that AHS had held an assembly with staff at the facility. He said AHS is programming more on-site and implementing more security procedures.
He said the union will continue to monitor closely.
Dufour stated that all Sofina Foods plants had implemented temperature controls, disinfection of non-unusual areas, staggered breaks, physical distance, mandatory face cover, plexiglass dividers on production lines, hand washing stations and dining rooms.
The company operates 16 plants in Canada.
In April, tuAC sent a letter to Sofina Foods calling for the Calgary plant to close after one tested positive.
Meat processing plants were heavily affected by pandemic epidemics. An outbreak at a Cargill facility in southern Alberta was at one point the largest outbreak in a single site in North America.
The Lilydale outbreak is one of two new outbreaks in Calgary announced Monday. The second, at the Peter Lougheed Center in the northeast of the city, is similar to six cases in the hospital’s addiction and intellectual fitness unit, Alberta Health Services said.
There are 1,172 COVID-19 assets in Alberta.