In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, authorities have gone back to lockdown restrictions after a massive increase of coronavirus infections. At a meatpacking plant in Tönnies, more that 1,500 tested positive.
Armin Laschet, the state premier, said that the Gütersloh district, where about 360,000 citizens reside, will be under lockdown at least until June 30th. This comes just after the lockdown was lifted last month.
Mr. Laschet said that this is 'the biggest infection incident' in the country thus far as the country had done fairly well in handling the pandemic. '"We have decided that further measures are necessary," he said. Travel outside the area is not banned but citizens are discouraged to leave and visit other districts at this time.
Restaurants are back to serving only take-out orders while bars, museums, gyms, and cinemas have been shut down again. Physical distancing is also back to being stricter, allowing people to meet only one person outside their house. Moreover, schools and nurseries for up to 50,000 young students have been shut down.
All the infected employees from the meatpacking plant must undergo mandatory quarantine. The local government has deployed three police units and aid workers to enforce these measures.
There is also a metal fence that was set up around the residential building where around 7,000 employees live. Local authorities are continually distributing food for them as Mr. Laschet expressed that it is important for them to be 'treated humanely.'
Why Meat Factories?
Lawrence Young, Professor of Molecular Oncology at the University of Warwick, said that 'factories and, in particular, indoor areas which are cold and damp, are perfect environments for coronavirus to linger and spread. Virus-containing droplets from infected individuals are more likely to spread, settle, and stay viable.'
Since infection is spread through coronavirus droplets, another possibility is that factory workers shout at each other or talk loudly to communicate over the loud machinery. Also, it's difficult to constantly maintain the two-meter physical distance rule while working on fast-moving production lines. The dim lighting in factories also helps the virus to survive better without exposure to daylight.
Professor Tara Smith at Kent State University in Ohio said, 'When you have people standing right next to each other working heavily - because of course this is a difficult job - and breathing heavily, you have a chance for spreading the virus from just one infected individual to many that are in close proximity.'
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Disruption in the Pig Market
In the United States, a chicken processing site reported that 150 workers tested positive for COVID-19. In Catalonia, Spain, slaughterhouse employees in four meat plants have tested positive as well in May.
The sudden quarantine of Tönnie's 1500 employees may disrupt Germany's pig market, where the plant deals with up to 20,000 pigs a day. Local authorities are still investigating how the virus entered the factory and how it had spread rapidly. Gereon Schulze Althoff, the head of the Tönnies crisis team, explained that the pandemic is 'far from over and that Tönnies, just like other meatpackers, may easily have to deal with another outbreak.'
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