One Tyson employee said management knows the scope of the problem but is afraid of a work stoppage, and agreed with others that safety measures are inadequate to prevent coronavirus spread.

“We have had actual managers confirm that there are cases in the plant, but they don’t want to cause panic and cause people to not come to work,” the employee said Wednesday, declining to go on the record for fear of being fired.

Other workers told The Courier of at least five cases of coronavirus inside the plant.

At least one employee of Tyson in Waterloo has been hospitalized since Sunday in the intensive care unit at UnityPoint-Allen Hospital in Waterloo, his sister confirmed to The Courier on Wednesday.

She said Tyson was notified of her brother’s symptoms last week, and further notified that he tested positive.

“He has been calling and emailing me for weeks expressing fear he was going to get COVID-19 due to the very lax protocols at Tyson,” the sister said.

When he did catch the virus her brother had to keep working until, finally, he was hospitalized.

“He can not afford to lose his job,” she said.