TAR HEEL — Bladen County has recorded a second case of the coronavirus, and a person from another county who works at the Smithfield Foods plant has tested positive for COVID-19.
The news Saturday came in two junctures, and was a bit confusing. A first release said the Smithfield worker was a resident of the county; Dr. Terri Duncan confirmed later that was not the case and was released in error. She declined to name the county where the worker resides.
Bladen does have a second case among its residents, and it is one reassigned from another county. Duncan said the person infected is isolating at home and “doing well.”
Before Saturday, Bladen County had just one case reported April 1 by the Health Department. That patient has since recovered.
In the release on the Smithfield worker, Duncan said, “The health and well-being of the employees is our first priority. Local, state and national agencies are working closely to protect the health and safety of employees and to mitigate further spread of the virus.”
In a telephone interview, she added, “Smithfield has taken several measures to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.”
The county Health Department is working with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on the situation at Smithfield, Duncan said. Though she declined to name federal agencies involved Smithfield regularly adheres to standards as set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration among others.
The plant on N.C. 87 is the world’s largest pork production facility. A Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was reported to have 438 positive cases of COVID-19 earlier this week. It had halted production on Sunday due to the outbreak. Other plants in Cudahy, Wisconsin, and Martin City, Missouri, were dependent on the Sioux Falls slaughterhouse and were closed as well.
The Bladen County plant employs an estimated 4,400 to 5,000, and processes approximtely 30,000 to 35,000 hogs a day.
The news came on a day when North Carolina’s death toll increased by another dozen to 164, and the number of positive cases went up to 6,140. The number of hospitalizations was down to 388.
In the last 12 daily reports, North Carolina has added 131 deaths — 47 in the last three alone. The number of new cases had a one-day jump of 281, and the number hospitalized went down 41.
DHHS says, with 88 percent of hospitals reporting, there are available 2,380 ventilators, 6,780 hospital beds and 851 intensive care unit beds.
Adjacent to Bladen, five counties have five deaths and 199 positive cases. Cumberland has three deaths and 105 cases, Columbus has two deaths and 51 cases, Sampson has 19 cases, Robeson has 18 cases and Pender has six cases. Saturday’s report marked the first time all six counties went up in number of cases.
Across the state, 95 percent of the deaths and 54 percent of the positive cases are linked to those 50 and up. Men represent 66 percent of the deaths, and women make up 53 percent of the cases.
Among congregate living facilities, the state says there are outbreaks in 36 nursing homes, 11 residential care facilities, eight prisons, and two other facilities. Of those, only a nursing home in Cumberland County is in a county adjacent to Bladen. There have been 59 deaths linked to such facilities.