Newspaper uncovers details about Triumph COVID outbreak

On April 22, St. Joseph Mayor Bill McMurray emailed City Attorney Brian Carter, telling him to shut down the Triumph Foods plant because of a coronavirus outbreak. But the plant never closed, three people died and hundreds tested positive for the virus.

An investigative report by USA Today shows local officials only offered advice to limit the damage at Triumph, instead directing the problem towards state and federal agencies. News-Press NOW reached out to local and state officials late this week in wake of the USA Today report.

“That email from the mayor also indicated that there were only nine cases at that time, and that is why we didn’t move forward at that time, because nine out of 2,800 (employees) isn’t significant,” Debra Bradley, the St. Joseph Health Department director, said Friday. “It’s not that it’s not significant, it’s just not that many people.”

McMurray, who apparently sounded the alarm April 22, declined to comment for this story. Five days after his email, each employee at Triumph Foods was tested for COVID-19, and more than 400 cases were found, many of whom were asymptomatic patients.

Read more: https://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/coronavirus/newspaper-uncovers-details-about-triumph-covid-outbreak/article_360165ae-25d4-11eb-a231-5791fbe9e405.html
(St. Joseph News-Press)