KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Final testing results at a food plant in St. Joseph, Missouri, found more than 400 asymptomatic employees to be positive for COVID-19, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Missouri health officials said Tuesday that 412 employees and contract workers at Triumph Foods tested positive. That's 17.4% of the 2,367 workers who were tested on-site, or a little more than one in every six, between April 27 and May 1.
None of the employees who tested positive had exhibited any symptoms of the highly contagious virus.
The testing at Triumph Foods was part of the state’s “box in” testing strategy when an outbreak is found to be present among people living or working closely together.
The Department of Health and Senior Services advised the plant that staff who test positive should not return to work for 10 days, as opposed to seven days per guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department said 60 residents its jurisdiction tested positive at Triumph Foods, while the Unified Government Public Health Department said it has 78 residents who tested positive at the St. Joe food-processing site.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said during a press conference on Monday that employees have to return to work “if it’s safe to go back to work.”
“We just can't leave that up to every individual,” Parson said, “but if your company believes it's a safe environment for you, and you believe it's a safe environment, then you know that’s between you and the people you work for. If you don't want to go back to work, then you don't have to go back to work necessarily, there's other people out there probably needing to hire people too.”
Parson said he doesn’t believe that employees will be able to say they don’t feel comfortable returning to work and will be able to “just stay at home.”
“I just don't think you're going to be able to do that,” he said.
The Triumph Foods facility processes pork products. The company planned to use the testing results to develop “staffing and work plans” at the plant.
