Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday acknowledged a suspected COVID-19 outbreak at a meatpacking plant in Black Hawk County, where the local sheriff slammed "a small few" for not doing more to mitigate spread of the coronavirus.

The potential outbreak at the Waterloo plant, which has nearly 3,000 workers, extend the worries about meatpacking plants in Iowa and around the nation. Already, several major packing plants have suspended operations, amid workers' sickness and deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the quickly spreading novel virus.

Reynolds told reporters at a news conference that supplies for 1,500 coronavirus tests had been sent to a Tyson Fresh Meats facility in Black Hawk County. Local officials said there were 150 COVID-19 cases in the county and one death, though they did not directly tie all those illnesses to the plant.

But Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson did target the Waterloo facility in comments Thursday afternoon, although he did not mention it by name.

"Many of these cases are attributable to just one local employer. And having visited that location and witnessed their attempts and approaches to employee protection and safety practices as it pertains to the COVID-19 virus, there was clearly more that could and should have been done," Thompson said. "Today, our entire ... countywide health care delivery and virus response system is paying the price for those lapses in protocol."

"Today, Black Hawk County is fighting an overwhelming battle against ever-increasing numbers, due to an apathetic approach by a small few," he said.

When reporters asked whether he was calling out the global food giant, Thompson would say only that he did not reference the company by name in his criticism.

► More:The latest on the coronavirus outbreak in Iowa

Reynolds, during her news conference, said the tests were being sent to the Waterloo Tyson plant so “we can identify those that are sick and those that aren't, so we can start to understand what the scope of the outbreak may be and to get in front of that.”

Tyson Foods spokeswoman Liz Croston said Thursday morning, before the governor and the sheriff's comments, that the company’s meatpacking plants in Council Bluffs, Perry, Storm Lake and Waterloo are still operating. She denied media reports that any of the 1,250 employees at the company’s closed Columbus Junction pork processing plant, which has experienced an outbreak, are working at other Tyson Foods locations.

Croston did not return emails seeking comment later in the day.

The number of positive cases in Black Hawk County appears to be growing quickly.

Earlier this week, the county was listed as having 78 cases of the virus. As of Thursday morning, the state public health department reported the county had 109 cases and no deaths. Black Hawk County officials said Thursday afternoon that 150 people had tested positive for the virus and one had died. Local officials say they have more updated information than the state does.

"Our increase in numbers is due to an outbreak in Tyson Foods Waterloo," said Nafissa Cisse Egbuonye, director of the Black Hawk County Health Department, during a news conference.

By the state's definition, an Iowa business is the center of an outbreak when "10% or greater of your employees are reporting COVID-19 symptoms" that include fever, cough, sore throat, difficulty breathing or any other respiratory symptom. Egbuonye said she was not using the state's definition of an outbreak.

► More:Updated COVID-19 maps and charts track cases and data in Iowa and across the U.S.

Meatpacking plants are a hot spot for the virus

The Iowa Department of Public Health is currently responding to cases of COVID-19 at several food processing plants.

The Tyson Foods meatpacking plant in Columbus Junction, in Louisa County, has been linked to at least 140 cases. Company officials said two people have died. The facility has been closed since April 6.

National Beef Packing Co. announced earlier this month that it was closing its Iowa Premium plant in Tama until April 20 because of COVID-19 cases among its workers. There also have been confirmed cases of the disease among workers at a JBS plant in Marshalltown.

In South Dakota, more than 500 workers from the now-shuttered Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls have tested positive for the virus. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention visited the plant on Thursday.

Some plants continue their work despite the challenges.

Clayton Weber works in a grading department at the still open Tyson Foods facility in Independence.

A 20-year-old who has worked at the plant for over six months, Weber said he isn’t worried about getting sick. He said he did not believe that anyone at the plant had yet tested positive for the virus. But some of his co-workers are worried, and many are calling in sick.

Weber said some of the older employees who work in the packaging area “aren’t too thrilled” to come to work. Even though Weber said the plant has taken some measures to keep employees safe, such as instituting plexiglass-type walls between workstations, he said social distancing remains difficult.

“It’s near impossible,” he said. “That helps a little bit, but that only does so much.”

Egbuonye, the Black Hawk County's health department director, agreed that keeping people apart to stop the spread of the virus is tough in packing plants.

"Social distancing in meatpacking industries is very difficult. It just is. It's their workflow," she said.

League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa Political Director Joe Henry said meatpacking employees have told his organization they are scared the companies will fire them if they speak out about the conditions. Others are confused about what resources are available to them. They don’t know where to get a test or what will happen if they have to miss work.

“Not enough information is getting out to workers about their rights if they are ill,” Henry said.

Reynolds said state public health officials are “getting into these facilities” and educating management as well as workers about safety and mitigation efforts.

“We’re working very closely with the facility, and we’ll continue to do that with all of our food processing and packaging plants,” she said. “It’s an essential infrastructure. It is part of our food supply.”

Reynolds on Thursday reiterated that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is inspecting large food processing facilities in the state. Her office later added that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is responding to worker safety issues.

Iowa OSHA Administrator Russell Perry said in an email that the federal OSHA agency will release new guidance for inspecting meatpacking plants “as soon as possible.” He said the federal agency issued “recent guidance” recommending states should ask companies how they are addressing complaints “in most cases.”

On Thursday, Reynolds also announced she was ordering people in northeast Iowa — including Black Hawk County — to limit their social activity because of a spike in COVID-19 cases in the region.

​​​​​​​Barbara Rodriguez covers health care and politics for the Register. She can be reached by email at bcrodriguez@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8011. Follow her on Twitter @bcrodriguez.

Tyler Jett covers jobs and the economy for the Register. Contact him at 515-284-8215 and tjett@registermedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.​​​​​​​

Tommy Birch covers Iowa State athletics and the Iowa Cubs when a global pandemic has not redirected his work. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.

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