The Kermené slaughterhouse, in the Côtes d'Armor, where dozens of positive coronavirus cases have been recorded. A large screening is organized. - AFP

Just over 200 employees tested and already 69 confirmed positive cases. In the Kermené slaughterhouse, in the Côtes d'Armor, the coronavirus has clearly established itself. Subsidiary of the Leclerc group, to which it supplies butchery, delicatessen and catered products, the company will lend itself to a major screening operation on Tuesday on several sites in the department. The Breton company employs 3,400 people at six sites located around the slaughterhouse located in Mené, near Saint-Brieuc.

This Tuesday, several hundred employees will be tested at Covid-19. "The screening could continue on Wednesday because its perimeter is not yet stopped," said the director of the regional health agency (ARS), Stéphane Mulliez. The first report dates back to May 13, when the "zero patient" was admitted to intensive care at the Saint-Brieuc hospital center.

As of Friday, 209 employees in the primary cutting workshop had been tested and 69 positive cases were revealed. “It is our change in doctrine since May 11 that allows us to detect new cases. In the present case, some of these positive test cases may be old cases. It is normal that positive cases appear since there are more tests, "detailed the head of the ARS, referring to" serological tests ".

Coronavirus: “We are on a sideline on the production lines” ... Why does the Covid-19 infiltrate slaughterhouses so much? https://t.co/A4UFMBmtr9 via @ 20minutesEco pic.twitter.com/zA0quwG8OK

- 20minutesEco (@ 20minutesEco) May 18, 2020

This Wednesday, another sector of the company will probably be investigated. "If the number of positive cases is large again, the tests will have to be continued". Those tested are placed in the fortnight, including pending the results of the exams. Contacts of these people are sought and these "risky contacts will also be placed in the fortnight. It's about breaking the chain of contamination, ”said Stéphane Mulliez.

"We share the same changing rooms"

Will the slaughterhouse that processes two million pigs and 160,000 cattle per year close? "A closure, even temporary, would be a disaster," said the mayor of Le Mené, Jacky Aignel. Six hundred people work there. And many are worried. "We are on the same premises, we share the same changing rooms," testified an employee who worked daily with the hospital patient. During the confinement, the factory operated at full speed: "We worked 50 hours a week, including weekends", assures this employee.

Several slaughterhouses around the world have been affected by the coronavirus epidemic. In France, the Tradival site located in Fleury-les-Aubrais, near Orléans (Loiret), revealed 54 positive cases on Monday evening. In the United States, 115 abattoirs have been affected since March. The proximity of employees could be a factor of propagation. The temperature, almost systematically below ten degrees, would also favor the spread of the virus.

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  • Screening
  • Coronavirus
  • Saint Brieuc
  • Society
  • Covid 19
  • Reindeer
  • Slaughterhouse
  • Leclerc