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Trump to Order Meat Processing Plants to Remain Open

Associated Press

   President Donald Trump will take executive action Tuesday to order meat
   processing plants to stay open amid concerns over growing coronavirus
   cases and the impact on the nation's food supply.

   The order will use the Defense Production Act to classify meat
   processing as critical infrastructure to keep plants open and prevent a
   shortage of chicken, pork and other meat on supermarket shelves,
   despite concerns about workers' health.

   The virus has forced two of the nation's largest plants, one in Iowa
   and one in South Dakota, to close and others to slow production.

   The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which
   represents 1.3 million food and retail workers, said Tuesday that 20
   food-processing and meatpacking union workers in the U.S. have died of
   the virus. An estimated 6,500 are sick or have been exposed to the
   virus while working near someone who tested positive, the union says.

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