GAINESVILLE – Fear of a potential spread of the novel coronavirus under close-up working conditions makes the people who toil in the northeast Georgia chicken plants nervous as health care providers brace for the possibility the worst might still be to come.

Meat and poultry plants across the country and in south Georgia are becoming hot spots for the COVID-19 disease. In some cases, plant operators are sending the entire workforce home to self-isolate.

So far, the Hall County poultry plants aren’t reporting outbreaks. The state Department of Public Health reported 963 confirmed COVID-19 cases on April 23, and health care providers in the county of about 204,000 people are preparing for the expected peak of the virus in May.

At Northeast Georgia Medical Center, state health officials helped the hospital set up a mobile hospital unit outside the emergency department to expand care and triage capacity. The hospital added more intensive care capacity and increased its Spanish language materials to help people who don’t speak English.

As of Thursday, the Gainesville hospital reported it was treating 73 patients who tested positive for COVID-19.

Latino population hit

The highly contagious disease is spreading disproportionately among Hall’s Latino population. Latino patients account for about 53% of Hall County’s positive results, although they only account for about 29% of the population.

And Latinos also disproportionately work in the kill plants and the cook plants that make Hall County industry synonymous with poultry. Broilers are Georgia’s top agricultural product.

"The needs and fears that we’ve seen are mostly about how people are going to pay their bills if they’ve been quarantined, how they’re going to eat if they’re quarantined," said Vanesa Sarazua, the leader of Hispanic Alliance Georgia. The nonprofit’s work includes literacy services and legal referrals, but lately it’s the advice for places holding food drives and their health guidance that’s in demand.

Some workers who don’t have citizenship or legal residency avoid hospitals or accepting public benefits because they fear it could attract the attention of immigration officials.

The saddest part, Sarazua said, is probably that some people are navigating this illness on their own. The thought of working so close to co-workers on the production line is scary, too.

Changes in plant cleaning

Some plants are making changes such as cleaning work surfaces more often, setting seats far apart in break rooms, taking employees’ temperatures as they arrive and installing plastic partitions between workers.

The changes are coming slowly, Sarazua said. "As slow as everyone else dealing with this new pandemic."

Poultry generates about $1 million or more in two-thirds of Georgia’s 159 counties, and it is still going pretty strong even during the governor’s shelter-in-place order, according to Georgia Poultry Federation President Mike Giles.

Poultry and meat plants are open as an essential industry meant to keep grocery stores supplied. It has come at a high cost for some.

Four Tyson poultry plant workers in Camilla have died from COVID-19.

Around the country, some meat and poultry plants closed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. This month, COVID-19 breakouts closed a Smithfield Farms pork plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and suspended work at a Tyson Foods pork plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa.

A Tyson Foods spokesman declined to say what it would take to close a Georgia plant or what the company knows about COVID-19 positive test rates at its operations.

The company is installing infrared temperature scanners, requiring protective face coverings and deep-cleaning its facilities, Tyson’s Gary Mickelson said by email. The company said it relaxed its attendance policy in March to encourage workers to stay at home when they’re sick.

Perdue Farms, another large Gainesville poultry producer, said it is also focused on extra cleaning, social distancing and other safety measures. Some plant managers are staggering breaks to keep workers separated, or send workers to take breaks outside.

Hospitals prepare

The four-hospital Northeast Georgia Health System that includes the Northeast Georgia Medical Center started setting up a coronavirus task force in January, when the first COVID-19 cases in the U.S. were reported.

Physicians started offering video visits to help keep sick people at home. Sample collection is done at drive-throughs so patients who think they might have COVID-19 don’t have to go inside hospital emergency departments where vulnerable patients wait for care. The system recently added 43 intensive care unit beds, bringing the total to 134.

"We have created more materials and messages in Spanish than ever before and are working with the Latino Chamber, Hispanic community members and schools to reach members of our community for whom English might not be their first language," hospital system COO Michael Covert said by email.

To contain the pandemic’s spread, Covert said, it’s more critical than ever that the hospital work outside its walls, alongside other health care providers, businesses and nonprofits.

It was Spanish-speaking group physician Dr. Antonio Rios who took questions from the public during a Facebook Live event organized by Hispanic Alliance.

Covert said the community is responding to the crisis with support for health care workers. People are delivering food to the hospital, donating to the COVID-19 relief fund and posting signs to thank hospital workers.

A state mobile intensive care unit is set to arrive at the main hospital in downtown Gainesville on May 5 with 20 more beds.