ROCHELLE — About 600 employees from Hormel’s Rochelle Foods will be tested for COVID-19 at the plant Thursday and Friday by KSB and Rochelle Community hospitals, in conjunction with the Ogle County Health Department.
Testing will be done outdoors in tents in a process similar to KSB’s drive-through program, which has been in place since the pandemic began, said David Schreiner, president and CEO of the Dixon hospital.
Concerns about contamination inside the plant are pushing the testing outdoors. There will be two stations, with KSB testing half the workers and Rochelle Community the other half, Schreiner said.
Friday, OCHD and the city of Rochelle announced that Rochelle Foods had 24 positive cases linked to the facility and was ordered to close within 48 hours.
The plant complied; it will pay its workers during the duration of the closure and they will not be required to pay for the tests.
Rochelle Foods has about 900 employees.
“There will be around 600 people tested,” Schreiner said. “The difference between that and the around 900 total employees is people that have already been tested at earlier points.
The testing s for plant employees only and will be closed to the public.
Many of those employees are Spanish speakers. The plant will provide interpreters and the OCHD is distributing pamphlets in English and Spanish.
KSB will send six to eight health care workers in full personal protective equipment, Schreiner said.
Between KSB and RCH, there are enough test kits and supplies to test all 600, Schreiner said. He declined to say how much the cots was, just that a price was negotiated with Hormel.
Testing will start at 8 a.m. Thursday and possibly run late in the day, in an effort to get all tests done by end of day Friday. Results will be available within 2 days; all should be in by Tuesday, Schreiner said.
He praised the joint effort and cooperation between the three providers.
“I’ve been impressed with how OCHD, KSB and RCH have helped out, and want what’s best for the situation.”
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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