(INDIANAPOLIS) — A coronavirus outbreak at a Huntingburg turkey plant could affect Indiana’s plans to further loosen business and travel restrictions.
State health commissioner Kris Box says the department is “intimately engaged” in testing employees of Farbest Foods after 42 of them were diagnosed with the virus. Box says she believes 91 cases so far are connected to the turkey plant, though she says some workers live in surrounding counties. She says state and local health departments will be tracking whether the virus spreads beyond Farbest workers.
It’s not clear whether all the tests conducted Friday are back yet.
Governor Holcomb’s roadmap for phasing out restrictions calls for another step toward that goal on
Sunday, allowing movie theaters and playgrounds to reopen and increasing the number of people allowed in stores and restaurants. Holcomb says he’ll offer guidance Wednesday on whether, which and where restrictions will be lifted.
Holcomb’s first move toward reopening left restrictions in place for an additional two weeks in Cass
County, which at the time was in the thick of one of the nation’s worst outbreaks, linked to the Tyson
Foods pork plant in Logansport. Box says the contours of the Huntingburg outbreak are similar. She says the state will collaborate with local health departments and hospitals in southwest Indiana in assessing whether Dubois or surrounding counties need to wait before lifting restrictions, or reimpose some of those which were loosened two weeks ago.
Marion and Monroe Counties already plan to leave current restrictions in place until June 1, regardless of what Holcomb announces Wednesday. Gary hasn’t lifted the original restrictions yet, and won’t do so until at least Friday.
