The coronavirus has claimed a new round of plant closings, including one company whose CEO perished of COVID-19 earlier this month.
The Jennie-O Turkey Store unit of Hormel Foods has closed two facilities in Wilmar, Minn. The closing was announced April 24 and operations wound down last weekend. Fourteen employees out of 1,200 at the two plants have tested positive for COVID-19, the company announced. Hormel says that the closing is “temporary” but did not announce a target date for reopening.
Indiana Packers Corp. also started winding down operations April 24 at its pork processing plant in Delphi, Ind. The company reported 15 cases of COVID-19 among 2,500 employees. The plant will be closed for up to two weeks and thoroughly sanitized.
Gilster Mary-Lee, a processor of baking mixes and other dry products, closed its processing plant in Chester, Ill. on April 18, following the death of its CEO, Don Welge. The company plans to initiate a partial startup of the plant this week.
