Hazleton meat-packaging plant closes with 130 workers testing positive for COVID-19

Union leader at Souderton plant died last Friday

BOB FERNANDEZ
The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)
APR 10, 2020 10:21 AM

Cargill Meat Solutions, a 900-worker plant in Hazleton, Pa., that packages meat in plastic for supermarket shelves in Pennsylvania and surrounding states, has shut down temporarily after 130 hourly workers tested positive for COVID-19 and a rash of employees called out sick, a union leader said.

Also this week, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to the family of a 70-year-old union steward at the JBS Beef slaughterhouse in Souderton, now shut down for a second week for sanitizing, that he died on April 3 from respiratory failure brought on by the pandemic virus.

The man, Enock Benjamin of Oxford Circle, had checked with a doctor but was not tested for COVID-19. He thought he had a bad case of asthma, and was using a nebulizer as he coughed and lost his appetite, son Cabo said.

By the time the family realized how sick he was, they couldn’t transport him to the hospital and called paramedics. He died soon afterward at home, in his bed. “I’m screaming in the street because nobody is there,” his son said of waiting for about 20 minutes for the ambulance. He broke down while being interviewed by phone.

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