Iowa sheriff urges closure of slaughterhouse amid COVID-19

 An Iowa sheriff is urging Tyson Foods to temporarily shut down its plant in Waterloo as coronavirus cases spike in Black Hawk County.

Sheriff Tony Thompson said he’s concerned that COVID-19 will overrun his community even more if the Tyson Foods plant doesn’t take proper precautions including temporarily shutting down the Waterloo plant, the Des Moines Register reports.

“I think we need a hard boot, reset on that plant,” Thompson said. “I think we need to be able to sort out and cull the herd between the haves and the have nots there. I think we need to deep-clean that facility and I think we need to restart that plant on a clean slate.”

His comments came shortly before Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that 138 people had tested positive for the virus and one person has died with the virus in Black Hawk County.