Angelita Rodriguez feels her husband was worked to death.

The 64-year-old Sioux Falls man, Augustín Rodriguez, showed up for every one of his shifts at Smithfield Foods, where he worked for nearly two decades. Augustín kept coming to work even after he began experiencing COVID-19 symptoms like fever and cough because he needed to work.

It wasn't until there was sharp pain in his side that he called in sick three days before he was hospitalized on April 4, his wife said. On April 9, she received a call from Avera telling her to self-quarantine because her husband tested positive for COVID-19.

He was placed on ventilators for about two weeks. He died Tuesday morning.

Augustín's death is presumed to be the first connected to a COVID-19 outbreak at Smithfield Foods meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls, which has become the largest coronavirus hot spot in the nation with 644 confirmed cases tied to the facility.

Smithfield did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but the Argus Leader independently verified Augustín's employment with the company. The South Dakota Department of Health has also yet to confirm his death, though previous deaths from the virus have been reported several days after they occurred as the department waits for death certificates.

Through her grief, Angelita doesn't blame God for her husband's death. She doesn't blame the coronavirus, either.

She blames Smithfield.

"I lost him because of that horrible place," said Angelita, 73, through a translator. "Those horrible people and their supervisors, they're sitting in their homes, and they're happy with their families."

From business as usual to nationwide hot spot

The first case of COVID-19 at Smithfield was announced on March 26, about a week after officials first said they would run business as usual during the pandemic. After the first case, Smithfield officials said they notified workers and cleaned the employee's workspace, but the plant would still maintain normal operations.

Smithfield added some precautions to the facility — hand sanitizer stations and continued cleaning — after the first case. The plant also offered a $500 "responsibility bonus" to workers who didn't miss a shift in the month of April.

But cases skyrocketed.

Two weeks after the first case, Smithfield had 80 sick employees. Another week later, it was the largest COVID-19 hot spot in the nation with more than 600 positive cases tied directly to the plant.

The company announced April 12 it would close the facility indefinitely.

Two days later, Augustín took his last breath.

'These people need to face justice'

The pain Angelita feels is unbearable, she said.

"I'm left without my husband. What am I going to do?" Angelita said through a translator.

Augustín, who was born in El Salvador and moved to Sioux Falls with Angelita about 20 years ago, worked at the meatpacking plant for nearly two decades in the pork cut department. It was his lifeline, how he was able to support his family.

If he wasn't working at Smithfield, he was either at home or at church, said Cesar Lainez, pastor at Church of God of Prophecy. Augustín's Christian faith was paramount in his life.

"He believed strongly in God and his faith was strong," Lainez said. "Any kind of activity or situation of his life, he always thought about God. He'd rely on his faith and would pray to God."

Augustín was a quiet man, but he made an impression through his actions.

He would visit his mother monthly to care for her. He would always be willing to help at church, and he would spoil Angelita with whatever she wanted, whether it was gardenias for her table or fruit as a treat.

He was happy. He was thoughtful. He was humble, Angelita said. Because of his reserved nature, only a few in the Sioux Falls community were privileged to know him, Lainez said. He held a memorial service online for Augustín on Tuesday. Funeral arrangements have not yet been made.

"God knows he was a good person," Angelita said.

Still, she doesn't understand why her husband was taken from her, and she's angry.

"In the name of Jesus Christ," she said, yelling through her tears, "these people need to face justice."