Frito-Lay confirmed Tuesday that it had quickly closed its manufacturing and distribution facility in Vancouver’s Fruit Valley neighborhood attributable to a COVID-19 outbreak amongst employees on the plant.
In accordance with Public Info Officer Marissa Armstrong, the Clark County Public Well being Service is conscious of 17 confirmed circumstances of snack manufacturing unit employees. The primary employee examined optimistic on October twenty ninth. Frito-Lay confirmed that a number of workers examined optimistic, though no particular quantity was given.
“We are able to verify {that a} restricted variety of workers at our Vancouver, Washington, Frito-Lay facility have examined optimistic for COVID-19 prior to now 14 days,” the corporate wrote in an e mail assertion.
The affected workers are in quarantine and it was suggested to seek the advice of a health care provider. The corporate stated it had additionally labored to inform individuals who had direct contact with these workers and suggested them to quarantine themselves.
Describing the choice to shut the Vancouver facility as “a precautionary measure and in collaboration with the Clark County Well being Division,” the corporate stated that throughout the closure the power could be “based mostly on CDC pointers and utilizing EPA accepted registered merchandise for “would disinfect COVID-19.”
The Vancouver facility shut down on Nov. 25, Armstrong stated. In a follow-up e mail, Frito-Lay introduced that the renovation course of had been accomplished and that the plant would resume restricted operation on Tuesday night. The stock disruption is just not anticipated to have a major impression on clients or shoppers, the corporate added.
Frito-Lay stated it had enforced security measures, together with performing symptom screenings and temperature checks, whereas offering private protecting tools to workers.
The Vancouver plant was opened in 1972 and expanded a number of instances. In 2012 the plant employed 480 folks and produced roughly 350 million luggage of snacks yearly for distribution within the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and components of Canada.
The Vancouver facility is one in all greater than 30 Frito-Lay manufacturing amenities in North America, together with greater than 200 distribution facilities. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, the corporate is a subsidiary of PepsiCo that makes snacks akin to Cheetos, Doritos, and Rold Gold pretzels.
The Frito-Lay plant is just not the primary native manufacturing heart to be affected by an outbreak; Frozen fruit processing firm Firestone Pacific Meals, additionally based mostly within the Fruit Valley neighborhood, was quickly closed in late Might after dozens of workers examined optimistic for the virus.
Clark County’s public well being service finally recognized 132 circumstances linked to this outbreak.
The outbreak on the Frito-Lay plant comes at a time when Clark County is grappling with a big spike in novel coronavirus circumstances, reflecting an upward pattern nationwide.
9 new COVID-19 deaths had been reported Tuesday, bringing the whole pandemic demise toll within the county to 100 and the whole variety of circumstances to eight,908.
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