Following large-scale COVID-19 testing of its employees over the summer and subsequent reports of positive results, Tyson Foods is using the experience to benefit industry colleagues.

As reported by The Acheson Group (TAG), the food safety and public health consulting group was recruited to form part of the working group panel with Tyson Foods, to share Covid insights.  

According to the group, food businesses form part of a critical infrastructure industry that is vital to public health. As such, they have had to continue production throughout the course of the pandemic, seeking ways to protect their workers even before sufficient knowledge was available on how best to achieve this. Since more became known about the virus, and a hierarchy of controls was developed, the industry continued to be challenged by both the fragmented nature of the US healthcare system and the lack of coordination and competition between Government institutions and private entities for scarce resources, the group explained. 

Armed with knowledge that many asymptomatic employees had contracted Covid, and having to maintain daily operations against a challenging backdrop, Tyson Foods was motivated to enlist expertise from across the healthcare spectrum to help protect its employees and its part of the global protein supply chain. From this, a scientific working group was convened in August to discuss workplace safety in the COVID-19 era, examine what had been learned about the virus – then share that knowledge with the industry in a public report. 

COVID-19 safety panel

Additional experts on the five-member panel were Dr Daniel Castillo, Matrix Medical Network; Dr Scott Cherry, Axiom Medical Consulting; Dr Harry Hull, Former CDC, WHO and State of Minnesota Epidemiology and Infectious Disease Specialist; and Dr Margje (Marthe) Haverkamp, Alvarez & Marsal. 

As a result of the panel discussion, Tyson developed a comprehensive report, “Promoting Workplace Safety in the Era of COVID-19: Keeping Employees, Their Families and Communities Healthy and Safe.” The report includes discussion of the current environment, challenges, and recommendations around the critical areas of testing and tracing, social distancing in the workplace, airflow and personal protective equipment, the promise and potential limitations of a vaccine, communications to and between workers about how to protect themselves, and new areas for research prompted by the gaps in the current knowledge. 

In observing that the pandemic should not have come as a surprise, panel members also noted that it should not be expected that it can’t or won’t happen again. Additionally, Dr Acheson said, “I expect COVID-19 will hold its prominence for quite a while yet. Even if an effective vaccine is developed, it will take time for it to be fully tested and approved as safe for the public.” And even then, it’s not possible to predict whether the virus will completely dissipate, be controlled through a one-time vaccination (like measles or mumps), or necessitate annual vaccines for prevention (like influenza). “So, the more we learn, and the more we share, the better we will be at protecting workers – and the public – from this and other potential public health threats,” he said.