An employee of Dothan’s Wayne Farms plant and others at the company’s facility in Jack have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a company spokesperson.
Frank Singleton of Wayne Farms’ media relations department told WDHN that “several” employees tested positive at the Jack facility but said that the exact number would be the jurisdiction of the public health officials. He did say that it was a small fraction of the 1,200-person workforce.
All the COVID-19-positive employees are now in quarantine under physician care. Once they are cleared, they will be allowed to return to work.
The ADPH dashboard does have a confirmed case for Coffee County, as of this report.
To further prevent the spread, the company’s occupational health teams are monitoring the employees for any flu-like symptoms. One way is through infrared temperature sensors — which read employee’s heat signatures and display their temperatures, allowing to spot those with elevated temperatures.
Employees are being encouraged to used personal protective equipment. The company is also working with public health officials to do contact tracing to track any potential spread.
The company instituted protocols to prevent COVID-19 exposure in February, which you can read below:
The company has been operating under it’s COVID-19 Response Protocol since February 24, 2020. Under that protocol, any employees displaying a fever and signs of a respiratory illness are required to leave work, seek medical care and be cleared by the company’s Occupational Health department before returning to work. The protocol also involves enhanced sanitation of employee welfare areas, elimination of non-essential visitors, education and health promotion programs, PPE assessments and training of onsite healthcare personnel on the use of N95 respirators. Also, weekly communications and messaging to inform, update, and educate employees are being posted at all facilities. The company has on-site health professionals that are stationed at each plant to ensure compliance with established company and public health protocols and procedures to minimize spreading of this virus. The company will maintain this posture and continue following all current CDC and public health guidelines and precautions until the situation has been resolved.
