Governor Tim Walz says he’s “deeply concerned” that dozens of COVID-19 illnesses have shut down Smithfield Foods’ Sioux Falls plant, a major processor of pork coming from Minnesota and other states. Walz says, “They are shut down because of what can happen if you don’t get the social distancing and you don’t get things right: You have a major manufacturing plant — in this case pork-producing — but food-producing — is shut down because of this.” He adds, “At this point in time, we’re not hearing of any disruption to that supply chain, but… that is our deep concern, and especially being home to so many of those [major food processors].” Walz says he’s constantly talking to major manufacturers such as General Mills, Cargill and Land o’ Lakes.
Walz says Minnesota needs to learn a lesson from a what happened in South Dakota. The governor says what he wants in Minnesota, “At each of these of food-producing plants, we would test every single person to see who’s already had it,… test every single person if we thought there was a case to get immediate isolation, we would have infra-red thermometers or walk-throughs at every door…. and that’s the way we could ensure that we could get back to work.”
Walz warns if people are sent back to work without proper testing and ongoing monitoring, and if “we shut down Hormel or we shut down General Mills, that becomes a national problem, not just a Minnesota problem.”