FLINT, MI -- General Motors says a worker at the Flint Assembly truck plant tested positive for COVID-19, and says the company didn’t realize it until late in the afternoon on Thursday, March 19.

David Barnas, a spokesman for GM, confirmed the case in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal, saying the employee has been absent from the truck plant since March 5.

Earlier Thursday, the company pushed ahead with its plans to close the plant earlier than it originally announced without mentioning the confirmed case of a worker with the virus.

“Since January, General Motors has been taking decisive action around the world to prevent the spread of coronavirus because the health and safety of our employees and everyone who enters our facilities is our top priority,” Barnas said in his email to The Journal. “We can confirm that an employee who has been absent from Flint Assembly since the morning of March 5, 2020, has tested positive for COVID-19/coronavirus.”

Barnas said the company has been in contact with the employee “and the employee has been receiving medical care.”

“The employee’s last day worked was March 5, 2020 (the employee has been on medical leave and out of the plant since this date),” the email says. “Given these facts and consistent with guidance from GM Medical and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, it is not necessary for anyone in the plant to self-quarantine as 14 days have elapsed since the employee was last in the plant. Going forward, we will continue to take aggressive steps to help prevent the spread of the virus and keep families safe.”

More than 5,200 employees work at Flint Assembly, and the company and UAW officials said Thursday that the plant was being shut down immediately rather than next week as it initially planned.

Flint Assembly is the last vehicle assembly plant in Flint.

It was built in 1947, and today, its complex off Van Slyke Road covers 159 acres. It is located adjacent to Flint Engine Operations and less than two miles from the Flint Metal Center, the last cluster of auto plants in the city.

Genesee County has still not reported a confirmed case of coronavirus, despite an incorrect report from the state earlier Thursday.

It was not immediately known where the Flint Assembly worker lives or was tested.

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