Congressman says he wants answers about Iowa plant outbreak

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Ryan J. Foley, Associated Press
Updated 4:40 pm CDT, Friday, July 24, 2020

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack said Friday that he's “deeply concerned” about an Associated Press report that showed the first known coronavirus outbreak at an Iowa meatpacking plant was far more severe than the state publicly acknowledged.

Loebsack wrote a letter to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds requesting answers to several questions about the state's response to the outbreak at the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Columbus Junction.

Loebsack's letter came two days after the AP reported on documents showing that Tyson officials reported to workplace safety inspectors on April 30 that 522 employees were known to be infected. A dozen were hospitalized and two died.

But at a May 5 news conference, the Iowa Department of Public Health said that 221 workers at the plant had tested positive.

The department and the company now say that number reflected only the first round of testing at the plant, but neither updated the public on the true scope of the outbreak.

. . .

Loebsack, an Iowa City Democrat, also asked whether the Republican governor will commit to posting up-to-date information on plant outbreaks online and why the state declined offers of assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/Congressman-says-he-wants-answers-about-Iowa-15432676.php

[madaboutharry]

1. Covid Kim is a Trump lackey.

She is stupid, she is a liar, and she doesn’t care about people who have already been born. She certainly doesn’t care if workers in meat packing plants get sick and die.

[beachbumbob]

2. an issue that democrats should take advantage of in Iowa that GOP can't run away from,