The Coquitlam poultry plant at the centre of the Tri-Cities’ largest COVID-19 outbreak has seen its caseload jump to 56.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry recently framed the Superior Poultry Processing Ltd. outbreak as a “cautionary tale,” one that “tells us that we need to make sure that we have the right safety measures in place in each different area of our economy to make sure we can all be comforted and understand that we are opening safely and slowly and methodically.”
At a time when the B.C. government looks to slowly open up the province, those concerns have been echoed all the way down to workplace inspectors as they assess the Coquitlam plant’s response to the outbreak.
In an April 21 WorkSafeBC inspection of the plant, an inspector expresses concern that the COVID-19 exposure mitigation measures are not effective on this production line, according to the redacted document obtained by the Tri-City News.
“I contacted the employer representative by telephone and he confirmed that at this particular processing line, workers are unable to maintain the 2 metre distance while working,” wrote the inspector in a summary of his discussions with management.
In response, the employer representative reportedly told the inspector that workers would be provided with gloves and masks.
Those measures have not satisfied Fraser Health officials, which in a call with reporters Tuesday said they were still waiting for management to upgrade measures.
In a federally-inspected plant that supplies roughly 7% of British Columbia’s weekly quota of fresh chicken, more than a fifth of the 270-person workforce has now tested positive for COVID-19.
No new cases have been identified at the Lilydale poultry plant in Port Coquitlam, though Fraser Health told reporters earlier in the day it was investigating a number of workers and other symptomatic individuals who had contact with the single positive case reported Wednesday, April 29.
“The site has been inspected by Fraser Health and we are working with the facility to update their COVID-19 mitigation strategies,” said the health authority in a written statement.
As of May 7, there are four outbreaks identified at lower mainland poultry plants, and Henry mentioned three as being active outbreaks: Chilliwack’s Fraser Valley Specialty, where there are seven cases; East Vancouver’s United Poultry, where there are 35 cases; and Coquitlam’s Superior Poultry, where there remains 56 cases.
With additional reporting by Glen Korstrom
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