MOOREFIELD, W.Va. (WHSV/AP) — Results can be expected in the coming days from hundreds of COVID-19 tests performed in Hardy County over the past few days.
Photo submitted to WHSV by a Pilgrim's Pride worker
On Monday, the West Virginia National Guard arrived in Moorefield to help conduct coronavirus tests at the Pilgrim's Pride plant there after Governor Jim Justice declared it a site that required screening and testing of all plant workers.
About 940 workers are employed by Pilgrim's Pride in Moorefield and the Hardy County Sheriff's Office told WHSV last week that testing would be available to them all.
However, on Monday, some workers anonymously said that testing was not being required but was up to employees.
At this point, health officials have not disclosed whether there are any confirmed virus cases at the plant, similar to the situation at various poultry plants in the Shenandoah Valley.
A representative for the Hardy County Sheriff's Office told WHSV no results are back yet from the National Guard testing at the Pilgrim's Pride 'fresh' plant and said they had moved to the Pilgrim's Pride 'prepared foods' plant on Tuesday to test more workers there.
Officials are expecting results to come back from the testing at the plant by around Thursday.
According to the West Virginia National Guard, they provided 48 Guard members for COVID-19 testing at Pilgrim's Pride, working in conjunction with the Pilgrim’s Pride facility, Hardy County Health Department and the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health.
The National Guard also helped the Hardy County Health Department with a drive-thru community testing site at the West Virginia National Guard Armory that ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Tuesday and tested 168 members of the Hardy County community.
Medical workers and National Guard members collected samples via nasal or throat swabs, with community members remaining in their vehicles to maintain social distancing.
It was for Hardy County residents only, based on proof of residency shown, as well as addresses and phone numbers.
Following the testing, which included 37 National Guard members from Task Force CRE, 10 from Task Force Medical and one Spanish language interpreter from the WVNG’s State Partnership Program office, the Natinal Guard also transported the tests to three labs in the state for expedited processing.
All current and future missions performed by the West Virginia National Guard are a part of "a coordinated state-level public health preparation and response effort for the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, initiated by Governor Jim Justice, and being led by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources," according to a National Guard statement.
Across the country, meat processing facilities, and poultry plants specifically, have been frequent sites of coronavirus outbreaks, with workers in close quarters at the sites.
In Virginia, how much testing has been conducted at the plants and how many workers have tested positive is unclear, because Virginia code prevents facilities being named as outbreak sites unless they agree to the release of their information.
West Virginia's health departments have more publicly identified outbreak locations than in Virginia.
The number of confirmed cases in Hardy County, which has about 14,000 residents, increased from three on April 27 to 16 as of Sunday and has since risen to 17.
But whether that increase is directly tied to Pilgrim's Pride has not been specified.
Employees were screened for symptoms on a daily basis and between shifts, per CDC guidelines for meat processing plants, according to a statement from the Hardy County's Sheriff's Office issued last week.
"We are all working together to ensure the safety of our community and for continuity of the food processing system," the statement read.
"We appreciate the ongoing cooperation of Pilgrim's Pride and the many folks in our community that work in the processing plant. We have a shared goal of keeping everyone healthy and ensuring the ongoing safe operation of our food processing facilities," said William Ours, administrator of the Hardy County Health Department.
Gov. Jim Justice requested the tests at the Moorefield plant.
"We’re going to do some extensive testing there and try to nip that in the bud and stop it as fast as we possibly can in order to be able to keep that plant moving," Justice said Friday.
For more information about the guidelines followed for testing in Moorefield, you can see them on the CDC website here.
WHSV's requests for comment from Pilgrim's Pride have not been returned.
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May 13, 2020 at 06:30AM
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Results expected later this week for COVID-19 testing in Hardy County - WHSV
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