Fleury-les-Aubrais (France) (AFP)
Fifty-four employees of a slaughterhouse in Fleury-les-Aubrais (Loiret) contracted the Covid-19, twenty more than the day before, after the 79 new tests carried out on Sunday, announced on Monday the Regional Health Agency ( ARS) from Center-Val de Loire.
"On Sunday May 17, 60 people working at the Tradival slaughterhouse and its subcontractors benefited from RT-PCR tests. In addition, 19 people came directly to the Regional Hospital Center of Orleans. achieved, 20 are positive, bringing to 54 the total of people tested positive to date, "wrote the ARS in a press release.
"The tests continued as planned on Monday for the benefit of 148 people," said the agency, which plans to complete its screening operation on the site on Tuesday.
The Tradival slaughterhouse, which employs around 400 people, belongs to the Sicarev group. The factory, with a production capacity of 55,000 tonnes of meat per year, is characterized "by its obsolescence", according to the regional prefect Pierre Pouëssel.
Its processing unit has thus been closed since December 2019 due to a food health problem. "So far the corrective measures have been deemed insufficient for its reopening," said the prefect on Sunday.
In a statement Monday evening, Tradival said its priority was "to protect the health of (its) employees and claimants".
"We have, for example, in addition to the barrier measures, proposed, as of March 23, a daily temperature measurement on a voluntary basis. Each employee has also been provided with fabric masks for travel between their personal vehicles and their takeover, "said Ludovic Paccard, chief executive of the Sicarev group, who hopes to reopen the facility on May 25.
Within the company, opinions differ on its ability to enforce the measures necessary to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
"We have masks, hydroalcoholic gel, interior and exterior clothing all year round, anyway. We are in the food industry, in terms of hygiene, it does not laugh," explained to AFP Abdel Bouchra, CGT staff representative. But "some providers do not necessarily have the same rigor," he added.
"It's true that they did everything for the covid," says Lydie Hardoin, order preparer. "I see my colleagues in the packaging, they are not side by side glued as some say. We have a blouse, a tunic, a mask, a charlotte, a hood, wool gloves and latex gloves on top. "
Passing through the changing rooms, however, seems more problematic. "In the locker room, we are without a mask, without anything. It is normal that many people are infected," says Marius Petcu, who arrived three months ago.
"Two or three days a week, the chain stops two or three hours and we stay in the cloakroom. We are between twenty and thirty, while the cloakroom is 15m2. (...) It is not possible to respect safety distances all day, "regrets the worker.
"I am worried in many ways," said the mayor of the town, Marie-Agnès Linguet. "Not so much on the health aspect, because, obviously, the health authorities are doing the necessary work (...), but I am worried about the feelings of the population, the employees. The employees are also victims. there is a concern about employment. "
These new cases grouped in a slaughterhouse are added to several others in France and abroad. In Côtes-d'Armor, 69 employees working in a slaughterhouse have tested positive for Covid-19.
© 2020 AFP