As the rising threat of COVID-19 spread quickly through the workforce of Smithfield Foods in recent days, fear and uncertainty kept pace.

On Thursday, less than 24 hours after state health officials confirmed more than 80 positive cases of the virus at the Sioux Falls meatpacking plant, the company announced its decision to close for three days to clean, sanitize and better equip the plant for social distancing.

But workers say they don't feel safe, and they don't feel a $500 "responsibility bonus" offered by Smithfield starting last week to those who do not miss work in April is sufficient compensation for risking their health or, potentially, their lives.

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"Because management drug its feet and didn’t act quickly, that’s why it’s a hot spot," said Kooper Caraway, president of the Sioux Falls AFL-CIO, a labor federation that represents local unions, including the Smithfield United Food and Workers Union. "And we’re seeing the cases go up every day. No matter what the latest numbers are, I promise you there’s more than that.”

The Argus Leader spoke with more than a dozen Smithfield employees this week about working conditions at the plant and how the COVID-19 outbreak was handled. The workers were granted anonymity due to concerns about their safety and job security.

“I’m not a fool,” said one employee when asked about the bonus that was being offered before the temporary closure. “Five hundred dollars isn’t worth our lives."

'I feel like they're bribing us'

The safety measures that Smithfield has implemented are not enough, workers say, as evidenced by the continued increase in confirmed cases from within the plant.

Union members continue to push for hazard pay from Smithfield, since employees are considered essential workers who are risking their health to provide for the food supply. Hazard pay would be considered hourly compensation about 1.5 or two times their normal pay.

Instead, Smithfield issued its “responsibility bonus,” which is “in recognition of an immense gratefulness for its employees’ dedication and performance during this time,” according to the Smithfield website.

“I feel like they’re bribing us with money to come to work sick,” said one worker. “That’s how you know they don’t care, because they’re forcing people to come to work. People are forcing themselves to come to work even when they’re sick.”

The woman said she and other workers are fearful of spreading the illness to their families.

While workers are screened, people who are asymptomatic can still go into work and spread the disease. Workers only have their temperature taken, and are not asked about other symptoms, such as coughing, unless their temperature is flagged.

People are still working closely together as well. Workers must stand about six feet apart as they wait in line to have their temperatures taken, but once people are inside the building they are working nearly shoulder to shoulder in many departments. Walkways are narrow, and it’s hard to avoid contact with people, workers say.

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One of the most concentrated areas of the plant, workers say, is the locker room — a long room with hundreds of lockers placed on both walls. People will bump shoulders with their locker neighbors, as well as anyone else walking through the room.

It’s impossible to know if the person standing next to you is sick, and it’s setting workers on edge.

“It’s just how close you are with people there,” said one worker who was tested for COVID-19 this week. “You’ve been in contact with a lot of people, and you don’t know where they’ve been or what they’ve done.”

Trying to slow the spread

The Smithfield plant had its first positive case on March 26, a week after officials said the plant would continue with normal operations and would not be sending employees home or shutting down.

But within the last week, and as cases have continued to rise, the plant implemented several precautions after communication with union officials.

Smithfield closed down the department where the first positive case was found for a week, sending each worker on that floor home for a 14-day paid quarantine. Some workers were made aware of the closure through a notification system, while the majority were not told about the closure by supervisors or managers.

The company has continued to give anyone who presents symptoms or is tested for the virus a 14-day paid quarantine.

Hand sanitizer stations have been installed around the plant, surfaces are cleaned regularly, and signs are put up around the plant, encouraging workers to wash their hands and socially distance themselves.

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Those changes were encouraged by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

"Keeping our food supply chain strong starts with ensuring that these brave frontline workers have safe workplaces, essential protective equipment, and the strong pay they need to support their families as they do this incredibly important work," a UFCW spokesman said in an emailed statement.

Those steps were taken weeks after union members requested changes to the workplaces, Caraway pointed out. But he hopes they make a difference.

Starting this week, workers began eating lunch in scattered shifts instead of in a packed cafeteria room. They are also screened for their temperature when they enter and leave the building, and they are allowed to change their work clothes as often as they feel necessary.

“Any of those precautions can make a difference,” Caraway said. “Even if 10 people get exposed in a day rather than 11. If you can implement a program where even one or two less people get exposed during a shift, that’s one or two less people getting infected and spreading it to their families."

Workers have been offered masks by Smithfield, but many bring their own homemade masks. The protective gear offered by Smithfield is similar to a hairnet, instead of the CDC-recommended face mask material, according to several employees.

Is three days long enough?

The three-day shutdown starting April 11 will affect production, but workers say the lack of regular workers is already disrupting production daily.

Workers who are still coming for their shift said that departments have been short for nearly a week. Once the temperature tent was started on Monday, dozens of workers failed screening and were ordered to go home sick.

Having fewer workers has left a gap in production, and several employees are being asked to take longer shifts and work more often to fill the void.

Even with the risk of showing up to work and interacting with other employees, workers still need to pay their bills and are fearful that they’ll lose their jobs.

Workers are hearing news of other plants around the region and country closing down temporarily. Tyson Foods’ pork processing plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa, suspended operations for a week beginning Monday due to more than two dozen cases of COVID-19 confirmed at the facility.

Smithfield's three-day closure will allow “essential employees” to clean and sanitize the plant and install additional physical barriers to further enhance social distancing, the company said Thursday.

"We applaud the decision to temporarily close the plant to push for an even safer work environment and will continue to push them to implement stringent safety measures," a UFCW Union spokesman said in an email.

Several employees told the Argus Leader that three days is not enough to address the COVID-19 problem. They want the plant to be shut down for two weeks.

"Two weeks would save so many lives," one woman said. "Money can be made in time, but you can’t bring back the people who pass away.”

Closing the plant for two weeks is unlikely, Callaway said. He expects to see several three-day shutdowns as the pandemic continues, since the plant is considered an essential business by federal authorities.

The three days allows people who have been working more often time to recover and allows time for symptoms to present themselves in workers.

“The problem is that once a person who is asymptomatic goes through screening and comes back to work, then the plant is no longer clean," Calloway said. "And it just starts all over again."