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Dubois Co. Officials 'Confident' Outbreak Contained To Meat Processing Plant

Dubois County Health Department Environmental Health Specialist Shawn Werner briefs the media Thursday afternoon
Dubois County Health Department Environmental Health Specialist Shawn Werner briefs the media Thursday afternoon

A week after an outbreak of COVID-19 at a turkey processing plant in Huntingburg, Dubois County health officials are confident the outbreak is contained to that facility.

At a news conference Thursday in Jasper, Dubois County health  officials confirmed that a strike team from the  Indiana State Department of Health tested workers at the  Farbest Foods processing plant.

Nearly six hundred employees were tested at the plant last week. 106 results came back positive for COVID-19. The plant was closed for several days but has since reopened.

READ MORE: Coronavirus Outbreak Closes Southern Indiana Poultry Plant

Huntingburg Mayor Dennis Spinner says he’s happy with the response by local and state health teams.

“We’re certainly concerned but not alarmed by some of those numbers, and I think that there has been a consistent effort to manage it in a proper way.”

As of Thursday, there were 169 positive cases of COVID-19 reported in Dubois County, with two deaths.

Farbest's Huntingburg plant is at least the fourth Indiana meat or poultry processing plant that has faced outbreaks of COVID-19 among its workforce similar to others in the industry across the country.

For the latest news and resources about COVID-19, bookmark our Coronavirus In Indiana page  here.

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Sara Wittmeyer is the News Bureau Chief for WFIU and WTIU. Sara has more than two decades of journalism experience. She led the creation of the converged WFIU/WTIU Newsroom in 2010 and previously served with KBIA at the University of Missouri, WNKU at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, KY, and at WCPO News in Cincinnati.