VANCOUVER, Wash. — The Vancouver frozen foods plant at the center of a major COVID-19 outbreak reported Wednesday that 85 cases of coronavirus were linked to the plant.
“This has been a scramble for everybody,” said Josh Hinerfeld, CEO of Firestone Pacific Foods. On Wednesday, Hinerfeld spoke publicly for the first time about his company’s COVID-19 outbreak.
“My priority as CEO has been to take care of my staff and their families and the community,” said Hinerfeld. “I want to make sure that you understand that's been my priority through this.”
Firestone Pacific Foods' first case of coronavirus was reported May 17. The company closed production and its office May 18. Since then, 85 cases have been linked to the fruit processing plant. Seventy people infected are employees. Fifteen others are close contacts.
Over the weekend, the Vancouver Clinic's Ridgefield office closed to test as many Firestone Pacific Foods employees as possible. So far, 87 tests have been negative. Of the 70 employees who tested positive, 21 of them did not show symptoms, according to the company.
Hinerfeld said on March 20, the company started pre-shift health screenings for staff. He said only one person ever presented with a low-grade fever. In late April, staff were instructed to start wearing masks. Looking back, Hinerfeld admitted the company should have done more to protect employees before the outbreak.
“We were struggling with social distancing and I say this with humility,” said Hinerfeld. “It was tough for us to enforce social distancing and what we realized was that when people went on break, we really didn't have adequate space in our break room for staff to be six feet apart.”
To address that, Hinerfeld set up a canopy outside the break room with tables and chairs. He said Firestone Pacific Foods also got help from an industrial hygienist to create a 50-point plan to make the workplace safer. The company's goal was to start production again by the end of this week but now Hinerfeld said they're waiting for approval from the county.
Clark County health officials said they'll be testing more household contacts of Firestone Pacific Foods employees, which could reveal more cases. The outbreak halted Clark County's application for Phase 2 reentry, which would in part allow salons and restaurants to reopen. The county health officer said he's still pushing for the state to approve it.
“I'm hoping that our response to this outbreak, as well as the fact that we're bringing in these additional case investigators, will demonstrate that we have the ability to move to Phase 2,” said Clark County Health Officer, Dr. Alan Melnick.
Hinerfeld shared that his concern was not only for his employees' health but also their livelihood.
“I don't know what a lot of our staff would be able to do in this economy if they didn't have this job,” said Hinerfeld. “So our priority is to get them all back and make them feel safe.”
