Health authorities in Nebraska will not be allowed to track COVID-19 cases among employees of meat processing plants, Gov. Pete Ricketts said. Ricketts announced the news before dropping the bombshell that about a sixth of the state’s COVID-19 cases come from food processing workers. “With regard to food processing, we have 1,005 people in those food processing facilities that have tested positive,” he said Thursday. Despite the outbreak, he said earlier this week that the state will not release specific figures about the scale of the outbreak at food processing plants. Several employees of the Tyson Foods plant in Dakota City have died from the virus, and the outbreak has sparked concerns about a potential breakdown in the food supply chain.
