(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) Missouri health officials report another 167 positive cases of COVID-19 at a pork processing plant in St. Joseph.
It's the latest round of results released by state health officials.
According to a news release from the Department of Health and Senior Services, a total of 295 employees have tested positive for the virus at Triumph Foods. The results do not include testing completed at the plant on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.
The second batch of confirmed cases is from samples collected from employees on Tuesday. Out of 916 workers tested, 167 came back positive, according to the release.
The mission to test all Triumph employees took a week to complete. Northwest Health Services was responsible for testing most of the nearly 3,000 plant employees between Monday and Friday.
The first set of results was released by the DHSS Thursday afternoon. The results showed 92 out of 707 of workers tested Monday came back positive.
Prior to this week, Triumph Foods had a total of 46 employees test positive for the virus that causes COVID-19.
Samples were collected for testing at the processing facility from an additional 709 employees on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing the total tested this week to more than 2,300.
Any employees who are still seeking testing can do so next week through the mobile testing site operated by Northwest Health Services, according to the DHSS news release.
DHSS has staff on-site in St. Joseph today assisting with case investigations and contact tracing. Staff from surrounding local public health agencies are assisting as well.
“We continue to work closely with our partners to monitor this situation,” said Dr. Randall Williams, director of DHSS. “Many thanks to the employees for the important work that they do and for their willingness to be tested and to follow our guide which will prevent further spread of this virus.”
Not all cases among Triumph Foods employees will be counted in Buchanan County’s total case count as they are not all county residents.