Meatpacking Giant Closes South Dakota Pork Plant 'Indefinitely' After 238 Employees Test Positive

Smithfield Foods has closed its Sioux Falls, South Dakota pork processing facility in response to coronavirus cases identified among the site's 3,700 employees. Smithfield said the plant would halt its services "indefinitely." The decision followed a letter issued to Smithfield's president and CEO Ken Sullivan on Saturday, in which South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul Ten Haken asked him to suspend operations at the plant for 14 days. 238 of the state's 626 confirmed coronavirus cases had been diagnosed among its employees. "This is your moment to take swift action for your people, the community of Sioux Falls and the State of South Dakota," Noem and Ten Taken wrote in Saturday's letter, additionally requesting that Smithfield continue to provide its employees with full compensation and benefits during the suggested 14-day closure period.