MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — JBS USA says it’s temporarily shutting down its big pork processing plant in southwestern Minnesota because of an outbreak of COVID-19 among workers. It’s the third plant JBS has closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the latest in a string of closures by other companies nationwide. Bob Krebs is president of JBS USA Pork.

Krebs says the Worthington plant is critical to local hog producers and the U.S. food supply and that he didn’t make the decision lightly. The plant employs more than 2,000 people and slaughters 20,000 hogs per day. JBS will continue to pay workers during the closure.

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds says ALL the employees of meat packing plants in Tama and Columbus Junction have been tested for COVID-19. The beef plant in Tama reopened this (Monday) morning, but the pork plant in Columbus Junction remains closed. Reynolds says all the meat processing plants in Iowa have been complying with the latest safety recommendations and she does NOT plan to issue an executive order shutting any of them down for cleaning.

Reynolds announced this morning COVID-19 outbreaks have been confirmed at two more Iowa nursing homes and 58 coronavirus patients in Iowa hospitals are in critical condition on ventilators.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa beef processing plant that was idled after a coronavirus outbreak resumed production today (Monday), one day after the state said 177 workers there have tested positive.The Iowa Premium plant in Tama, owned by National Beef, had suspended production for most of the month after the company confirmed that multiple workers had the virus.On Sunday, the office of Gov. Kim Reynolds said that 177 out of more than 500 National Beef workers have tested positive for coronavirus.

A woman who answered the phone at the plant confirmed that production had resumed. A National Beef spokesman said last week that its plan to resume production April 20 hadn’t changed. The company hasn’t responded to inquiries since then.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday, his administration is launching a $19 billion program to help farmers struggling from the coronavirus pandemic. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says the program includes $16 billion in direct payments to farmers, ranchers, and producers who experienced “unprecedented losses” during the pandemic.

Perdue says the Department of Agriculture will spend another $3 billion to purchase fresh produce, dairy, and meat products that will be distributed through food bank networks.

He said also, the USDA will use six-and-a-half billion in existing Commodity Credit Corporation funds along with nineteen-point-five billion of COVID money rather than wait for the replenishment of CCC funds in July.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A cluster of coronavirus cases at a South Dakota pork plant has highlighted the susceptibility of meat processing workers, who stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the line and congregate in crowded spaces. The Smithfield Foods plant has reported 518 infections in employees and another 126 in people connected to them.

In this April 13, 2020, photo, Kulule Amosa steps out of the apartment she shares with her husband who works at the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D. He tested positive for the coronavirus this week after an outbreak at the plant. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves)

Because the workers who slaughter and pack the nation’s meat are vulnerable, so, too, is the supply of that meat. Union leaders wish more had been done sooner at the Smithfield plant. The company says difficulty in getting masks and thermal scanners led to delays in implementing safety measures. But it added hand-sanitizing stations and was scanning employee temperatures before the plant closed.

The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors will meet electronically, Monday evening, via Zoom (https://us04web.zoom.us/j/77845850935?pwd=akhOQU1RMjU2OWNzejQ4c2ZQVERZdz09). The session begins at 5:15-p.m., and will include updates on:

• The impact of COVID-19 on the parks system
• Community Gardens
• Mollett Park (E. 3rd St. Place)
• Online activities
• Summer Program
• an update on the Sunnyside Park Pool, and
• the Disc Golf Course.

Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen will provide a report on:

• The Easter Egg Hunt (Rasmussen previously stated in a social media post, “We had 188 cars come through the park in 3 hours!”) – (Gracie Flinn, of Atlantic, won the Easter Egg contest for her colorful egg. She won an Easter basket full of gifts for her creativity)
• Rasmussen will also report on Native Grasses that have been planted.
• The Parks & Rec Dept. Recreational “Bag Boards” (Commonly referred to as a “Corn Hole” board game), are in and available.
• Benches have been implemented.
• He’ll also talk about the Sunnyside Park Bandshell beautification, and
• Clean-up of Camblin’s Addition Dry Run Creek.

Officials with Tyson Foods Inc., in Perry, confirmed Friday night that some of the company’s labor force in Perry have tested positive for COVID-19. According to media reports, Tyson’s communications manager confirmed multiple individuals at the plant have tested positive, but specific information would not be shared out of concerns over privacy issues. Unconfirmed reports received Friday from employees at the Perry plant claim some 27 suspected or confirmed cases have been identified.

An officials with the Dallas County Public Health Department said Friday her department could neither confirm nor deny that there are any positive COVID-19 cases Tyson plant in Perry plant, because it would fall under the HIPPA guidelines.

HIPPA – The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 – restricts the disclosure of “individually identifiable health information” but does not restrict the disclosure of “de-identified health information” that “neither identifies nor provides a reasonable basis to identify an individual.”

OSSIAN – The Iowa DNR is looking into a fertilizer leak that occurred Thursday in the city of Ossian, in Winneshiek County. The Farmers Union Coop reported Friday morning that a tank had leaked over the winter, into it’s secondary containment structure. The company pumped the containment to an area that discharged into a storm water intake leading to an unnamed tributary. The unnamed tributary flows into Nutting Creek. The release was discovered when people noticed white water in the creek.

The coop estimates between 1,000 – 2,000 gallons were released and is working to recover fertilizer from the storm sewer that goes into the creek. DNR staff were working with the coop on options to recover product in the creek. The DNR has collected water samples for testing, check for environmental impacts in the stream and consider appropriate enforcement action. No dead fish were observed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than a dozen Iowa elected officials implored Tyson Fresh Meats to close their Waterloo pork processing plant, saying the coronavirus is spreading among workers and is endangering not only employees of the plant but the entire community. Mayors, county officials and state legislators signed the letter that was sent to Tyson on Thursday.

The 19 officials said at a Friday news conference they had only received confirmation from the company that it had received the letter but no other action .The officials also accused Gov. Kim Reynolds of misleading Iowans on the seriousness of the outbreak and for failure to take action to close the plant.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa sheriff is urging Tyson Foods to temporarily shut down its plant in Waterloo as coronavirus cases spike in Black Hawk County. The Des Moines Register reports Sheriff Tony Thompson says he’s concerned that COVID-19 will overrun his community even more if the Tyson Foods plant doesn’t take proper precautions.

He says they need to deep clean that facility and restart it on a clean slate. His comments came shortly before Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that 138 people had tested positive for the virus and one person has died with the virus in Black Hawk County.”