COVID OUTBREAK STAFF ‘SCARED TO BREATHE’
TERRIFIED workers at a coronavirus-hit abattoir today told how they were “scared to breathe” as colleagues “dropped like flies” around them.
The 2 Sisters chicken factory in Llangefni, Anglesey, was shut for two weeks last Thursday as the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases at the plant mounted.
Some 175 workers have already tested positive for the disease, with the Army conducting mass testing at sites in Llangefni, Holyhead and Bangor.
The first worker fell ill at the end of May. By June 12 three workers had tested positive and dozens of others were off self-isolating.
The infections then rose rapidly with 12 reported by last Monday and more than 50 by Thursday when the decision was taken to close the site for two weeks.
Since then more than 400 workers have been tested at Army-run mobile testing sites – with 175 confirmed cases by yesterday – showing the scale of the problem.
The company says it introduced a raft of measures to protect workers from the virus.
However, workers, who did not wish to be named, yesterday described life at the factory as coronavirus took hold and what theybelieve went wrong. One worker told our sister website North Wales Live the situation was “terrifying”.
He said: “We could see people around us catching it and going off ill, and we had to carry on, scared to breathe at times, knowing it was in the air around us.”
Another added: “We felt like cannon fodder in there. People were very frightened, especially the older ones. Word spread very quickly along the line when people tested positive.
“This caused utmost distress and alarm.”
One worker said: “It is a frightening situation when the people you are working with are dropping like flies. We have families to think about.”
The workers claimed social distancing was not implemented in production areas with groups of three working side by side – often rotating.
He said: “The two-metre rule is enforced in corridors and the canteen but staff were only there for very short periods of the day, the big problem is there was no two metre safety provided in the production areas and staff were forced to work within inches of others.”
They said visors given to them had holes cut in to prevent ‘steaming’.
In response 2 Sisters said a raft of measures were introduced in response to the coronavirus crisis in the UK.
The company said the mandatory wearing of face visors was deployed across the site where social distancing measures could not be maintained – with an alternative version introduced in areas affected by misting.
They said production line partitioning and screening was installed and colleagues limited working face to face where practical to do so.
They said there was increased distancing on the thigh line.
A 2 Sisters spokesman added: “Managers told them to self-isolate even if there was barely any contact – for supe -safety.
“The numbers off before closure clearly show (it was getting close to 40% off ) people were actually hounded to go home and self-isolate.”
Meanwhile, Wales could implement its first local lockdown following the chicken processing plant coronavirus outbreak, Wales’ First Minister said yesterday.
Mark Drakeford said strict measures would only be reimposed for the island of Anglesey if there was a public health case for doing so, as officials wait to see if the outbreak
has spread into the wider community.
Mr Drakeford said Welsh Government ministers and the island’s local authority were reviewing the situation, while Wales’ test, trace, protect system would “keep on top” of whether there has been a general spread of the virus.
Advice would be taken from public health officials on whether specific lockdown measures were needed for the area during meetings later on Monday, he said.
He told the Welsh Government’s daily press briefing in Cardiff: “We will take the advice from those people who are dealing with the outbreak on the island to decide whether there is anything further that needs to be done that would impose restrictions on people more generally.
“You don’t do that lightly, because these are people’s lives and freedoms that you are interfering with. But if there is a public need to do so, we will.
“If the public health case isn’t there to go beyond what we are doing already then we will take that advice equally seriously.”
He added: “The test will be whether there is significant seepage of coronavirus from the closed setting and into the wider community.
“You’ve got to be proportionate about these things, as I said. Decisions that are made to restrict people’s liberties should not be taken lightly. And they should be taken when they are necessary to protect the wider health of the public.
“If that’s the position we find ourselves in on Anglesey, then we will take actions alongside local players to do so.”
Mr Drakeford said Government ministers were working with the Joint Biosecurity Centre, which advises the UK Government on how to manage the virus, on what steps to take in the event of local outbreaks.
But he said the “very serious outbreak” was so far confined pic
to the closed setting of the factory, and that the track and trace programme had been mobilised to locate people who might have come into contact with workers outside of the site.
Public Health Wales confirmed later yesterday that another 17 workers had tested positive, bringing the number of confirmed cases on the site to 175 following a “rapid screening phase”.
It said the increase was “as we anticipated” on the back of the focused track-and-trace programme, and did not mean the spread of infection was increasing.
Dr Christopher Johnson, consultant in health protection at Public Health Wales, said: “Since we commenced targeted testing last Thursday, over 400 members of staff have provided samples.
“The deployment of rapid test and trace facilities has helped identify this situation, and we will continue to keep control measures in place to bring the outbreak to a rapid conclusion.”
Public Health Wales said it was “very unlikely” the public could catch coronavirus from food, and that it was working alongside factory bosses, Anglesey and Gwynedd Councils, the Health and Safety Executive, the Food Standards Agency, and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
After the outbreak was reported on
Thursday, the 2 Sisters Food Group announced it was “doing the right thing” and would cease work on site for 14 days with immediate effect.
The company said the first reported positive case at the plant was on May 28, and a full “safe ways of working” action plan had been in place since early March.
Production at the factory, where 560 people are employed, will be transferred to other company locations until July 2.
Also on Thursday, in Wrexham, North Wales, 38 staff at the Rowan
Foods factory tested positive for the virus, though bosses said the cases showed an increase in the locality rather than a spread within the site.
2 Sisters Food Group is one of the largest food producers in the UK, with brands including Fox’s Biscuits and Holland’s Pies.
The Llangefni site does not supply retail or branded food service customers, said the company.