OMAHA, Madness (AP) – US factories took out goods during a long period of pandemic at rates that are extremely close to normal. However, growers are worried that they may not be able to keep up until most of the country is vaccinated, as the coronavirus continues to grow in areas with many plants.
The guarantees that were implemented after the initial wave of the virus appear to have prevented major outbreaks that have sickened hundreds of workers and forced carmakers, meat processors and other companies to stop production last spring. But with the number of COVID-19 deaths in the nation eclipsing 300,000 and the virus growing in the communities surrounding the plants, industry and union officials say it may be impossible to keep the virus out of factories.
“We are seeing an increase in the number of positive (test) rates, as you see in the surrounding communities,” said Gary Johnson, production manager at Ford Motor Co., which has about 56,000 workers per hour nationwide.
Federal Reserve statistics show that US industrial production is about 5% below February levels before the pandemic hit. It decreased by 16.5% between February and April, but has since returned, driven by car production.
Beef and pork production was just below last year’s level, said economist Lee Schulz, an economist at Iowa State University.
But because it will be months before many people can be vaccinated, factories will remain vulnerable.
“Even if we do well now, this virus can spread quickly to areas,” said Mark Lauritsen, director of the food processing and meat packaging division for United Food and Commercial Workers International. “I worry every day that this virus will explode again in one of our plants, even with all the precautions we have taken.”
At factories and auto factories in other industries where the United Auto Workers union represents workers, cases have risen slightly since Halloween, but almost all have been traced outside the factories, said UAW President Rory Gamble.
Since its reopening in May, after an eight-week hiatus, three workers at the Fiat Chrysler plant near Detroit have died of the virus, raising fears among thousands of workers.
Gamble said much of the fear came from misinformation about workers catching the virus in factories, which is not true.
“They need to have a complete understanding that we are doing everything we can to keep them safe,” Gamble said. “Because they have a right to be afraid.”
Statistics on the impact of the pandemic on the meat packaging industry are a cause for concern. The UFCW union, which represents about 80 percent of the nation’s beef and pork workers and 33 percent of its poultry workers, estimates that at least 19,800 meat-packing workers have been infected or exposed and 128 have died of COVID-19.
Employees such as Donald Nix, who works at a Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, suffer from the virus that removed him for 27 days in the spring, with fever, severe headaches and headaches.
Nix, 51, is worried that co-workers continue to get sick. In the spring, more than 1,000 of the factory’s 2,800 workers became infected and at least six died. “My job is still high risk. My job is still high risk, “he said.
But the meat industry giants – Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, JBS and Cargill – say the security measures that were put in place after the major outbreaks last spring have allowed them to limit the spread of the virus.
“We have made substantial investments in personal protective equipment, social distance guarantees and other enhanced health and safety measures in our business. We’ve seen a dramatic reduction in active cases involving our team members since last spring, “Tyson CEO Dean Banks told investors recently.
Measures include pre-work health questionnaires, temperature checks, plastic screens between workstations, increased cleaning of plants, random testing and the necessary use of masks and other protective equipment. The industry spent about $ 2.5 billion on these improvements and additional wages for workers in the first six months, said Will Sawyer, a protein economist at Cobank, an agro-industrial bank.
At Ford, factories operate at about 98% of their pre-pandemic production. Most workers who have symptoms or have been exposed to the virus stay at home until the danger of infecting others passes, limiting its spread to plants, Johnson said. The carmaker hires temporary workers to take their place, allowing them to keep the assembly lines in operation.
Automotive and meat packaging companies say that generally less than 1% of their workforce catches the virus. Automakers and the UAW are urging workers to wear masks in public outside factories.
UAW members, who represent 150,000 employees of General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, said the companies had largely adhered to their precautions and protocols.
“I know of people who have had it and given positive results, but, as far as I know, they do what they should do until they are quarantined and tested by people,” said Andrea Repasky, forklift operator at GM Factory from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The people she passes to the factory always wear proper protective equipment, she said. The public leadership says how many people give positive results in each round, and the numbers were relatively small, even with a minor increase after Thanksgiving, she said.
Ford, General Motors, Toyota and others are beginning to see minor problems with smaller parts companies that have to close factories due to virus outbreaks or government restrictions, especially in Mexico. Johnson said the lack of truck drivers affects parts delivery. The company lined up the freight just in time to get parts to keep the plants running, he said.
Ford had to delay production of its new Bronco SUV from spring to summer due to a lack of virus-related components that the company would not specify.
Toyota said it was close to stopping assembly lines due to a lack of parts, but so far it has managed to avoid it.
“There were definitely some close calls,” said spokesman Scott Vazin. “Every day, we have up to 10 parties that we closely monitor on red alert.”
UFCW’s Lauritsen said he hopes the industry will continue to work hard to limit the spread of the virus.
“We can’t be content just because things seem to be going right now,” Lauritsen said. “We know that plants of any kind – whenever people gather in large groups – can act as a super spreader with this virus.”
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Krisher reported from Detroit.
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