Transmission of Covid-19 Increased in Meatpacking Plants by Hannah Joy on April 16, 2021 at 4:32 PM
The study was published in the journal
Food Policy.
It found that beef- and pork-processing plants more than doubled per capita infection rates in counties that had them. Chicken-processing plants increased transmission rates by 20 percent.
‘Increased Covid-19 cases in US counties are attributed to meatpacking plants, i.e., 20% increase in chicken-processing plants and more than doubled per capita infection rates in beef- and pork-processing plants.
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The study looked specifically at large meatpacking plants generating more than 10 million pounds per month.
Conservative Estimate
Researchers said both the economic impact and infection rate estimate is conservative. The study looked at infection rates within a county and did not account for cases that might have been contracted at a meatpacking plant but spread to other counties.
SPM News 1204 031221
The Siouxland Community Health Center will be invited to join the Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program in the next six weeks. This program directly allocates vaccines to supported health centers to ensure underserved communities and those disproportionately affected by COVID-19 are equitably vaccinated.
The invitation was extended after 4th district Representative Feenstra and members of the Iowa House delegation sent a letter to the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lawmakers urged them to prioritize Iowa s federally qualified health centers in the next round of their program. Today, an additional 700 health centers were invited to participate in the next phase of the program, including those that provide services to rural populations.
SPM NEWS 2.15.21 - 4:31PM
Siouxland is under a Wind Chill Warning until Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. The National Weather Service says expect dangerously cold wind chills of up to 40-below overnight.
Last night’s weather set records across the region. Sioux City did as well, with a low temperature of -28.
Nebraska also saw a number of low-temperature records broken and expected more to fall Tuesday as a polar vortex pushed Arctic air into the Plains. Temperatures are expected to be below normal for almost a week.
Frigid weather that has sent temperatures plunging across Middle America also has power and gas utilities urging customers to dial down the thermostat through Wednesday. Utility companies serving Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri issued the plea yesterday and today for customers to conserve power as temperatures dropped to nearly 30 below in parts of western and northern Nebraska early Monday, sending the wind chill to as low as nearly 50 below in some places.
After 91 years, coronavirus brings a Texas rancherâs last sunset Raymond Reeves rides a horse at his Donley County ranch in the early 2000s. (Source: Courtesy of the Reeves family) By Emma Platoff | January 26, 2021 at 5:09 PM CST - Updated January 27 at 1:27 AM
DONLEY COUNTY, Texas (The Texas Tribune) - Not for anything could Raymond Reeves bluff his way through a game of poker. Somehow, his children recall, his face always revealed the hand heâd been dealt.
Perhaps it was the honesty, the sincerity, the fundamental good-guy, good-neighbor mentality. Raised in Floydada, in Texasâ sparse Panhandle, Reeves was the storybook Texas farmer and rancher throughout his 91 years, the type of father who would place his children atop a new horse minutes after theyâd been bucked off another â no member of his family would grow up fearing animals.
Paraguay - Record beef exports achieved despite the pandemic. 15 January 2021
After one of its poorest beef export performances in 2019, when Paraguay only managed to export 32,000 tons of boneless beef, the country has bounced back in 2020 despite facing the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Natalia Díaz de Vivar, Doctor in Veterinary Sciences and Director of Abattoirs and Meat Packing Plants in Paraguay noted that by implementing the Protocol of Good Practices for COVID19 in the Refrigeration Industry, this has resulted in a record export figure in the middle of the pandemic.
Although the exact tonnage of boneless beef products exported was not specified by Dr. Diaz de Vivar, it is worth noting that Russia is Paraguay’s largest export market by far where up to 64,000 tons of beef have been shipped..