Tolleson will test 200 city and JBS employees for COVID-19 as virus hits meatpacking industry hard

Tolleson is partnering with state lawmakers and nonprofit Valle del Sol to administer COVID-19 tests to 200 employees from the city and JBS Tolleson, a meatpacking plant with nearly 1,200 employees.

The local JBS plant has continued to operate throughout the pandemic even though meat processing plants around the country have struggled with a high number of virus infections.

Tolleson Mayor Anna Tovar said city officials have been unable to get data on how many, if any, JBS employees there have tested positive.

Sen. Lupe Contreras, Rep. Diego Espinoza and Rep. Lorenzo Sierra, whose districts all include Tolleson, partnered with the city to secure testing kits.

City and JBS employees can get free tests at the Tolleson Fire Department, off 92nd Avenue and Van Buren Street, on Thursday and Friday. The city and JBS are internally sending employees directions to make a testing appointment.

Many who work or live in Tolleson depend on public transportation and work long hours, making it difficult to get tested at one of Arizona's "testing blitz" events, which don't have locations in the southwest Valley.

"I’ll continue pushing to get more testing days here in the city of Tolleson," Tovar said. "My focus has been to make it as convenient as possible for these essential workers to get tested where they work or very close to where they work." 

Tolleson: Number of JBS employees with COVID-19 unknown

JBS facilities across the U.S. have had hundreds of confirmed COVID-19 cases.

A JBS plant in Greeley, Colorado, has more than 300 positive cases. Other JBS sites have seen surges in cases, too.

"The city does not know, nor does the state, nor does the department of health," Tovar said. "All inquiries of that number have been sent to their corporate office."

JBS USA spokeswoman Nikki Richardson first told The Arizona Republic the company isn't disclosing the number of employees who have contracted the new coronavirus "out of respect for the families."

When pressed, she said the company wouldn't share the numbers "as a matter of company policy."

"Given the evolving nature of this situation, we are not attempting to report the number of impacted team members," Richardson said in a statement. "We are doing everything we can to provide a safe working environment for our team members who are producing food for the country during these unprecedented times."

City Councilman John Carnero said he thinks the city needs to find out how many JBS employees have COVID-19. And if it can't, city leaders need to tell the public why they don't have that information, he said.

"I think the public has a right to know what’s going on — or what we don’t know," he said. "That by itself can be a pretty big risk to the citizens of Tolleson if they’re going to the dollar store or Pete’s Fish and Chips and these folks are doing business in town and they have the virus."

Carnero said the situation with JBS is similar to how cases in Arizona long-term care facilities are handled. The Arizona Department of Health Services has limited the amount of information publicly disclosed about COVID-19 cases in long-term care facilities because it could hurt business, although The Republic and other local news organizations are suing to bring that information to light.

"The city at this point felt like JBS has the right to release or not release any information they wish to share. It kind of follows the guideline that the governor has set down with the care centers," Carnero said. "They don’t have to tell anybody anything."

Former mayor: 'It's a time bomb'

Former Tolleson Mayor Adolfo Gamez, a longtime mayor and city councilman, said the city needs to figure out how many employees at JBS have the coronavirus as a public health precaution.

JBS employees who live in Tolleson could be spreading the virus in the city and those who commute to Tolleson could be spreading it across metro Phoenix, Gamez said.

"In a small community, that can be dangerous. We need to make sure we know what’s going on," he said. "If I was the mayor, I’d say, 'How many of your ... people are residents of this community and how many have tested positive?'"

Gamez said having the city offer 200 tests this week is a good step in the right direction, but he worries it could be "too little, too late." 

"I’m telling you, it’s dangerous," Gamez said. "It’s a time bomb. We need to get something done."

Valley meatpacking plant never closed

Although there have been hundreds of confirmed COVID-19 cases in U.S. meatpacking plants, JBS Tolleson never closed. President Donald Trump in April declared meatpacking plants "critical infrastructure" in a push to keep them operating as much as possible.

Some plants have since closed because of the coronavirus, despite Trump's executive order. 

At least 167 meatpacking plants have had COVID-19 outbreaks, resulting in at least 9,400 sick people.

Reach reporter Joshua Bowling at jbowling@azcentral.com or 602-444-8138. Follow him on Twitter @MrJoshuaBowling.

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