Minnehaha County Under Public Health Emergency
The Department of Health is declaring a public health emergency for Minnehaha County as the state total of COVID-19 cases in South Dakota is now 536. The state experienced a jump of 89 new reported cases of the disease.
Over half of those cases are in Minnehaha County, with the state reporting nearly 296 active cases of the disease, still. The state estimates 190 of those active cases are tied to the Smithfield Foods processing plant in Sioux Falls.
The bulk of the coronavirus spread is mainly east river. Cases reported west river are sprinkled throughout the state. Of those five hundred and thirty-six total cases statewide, 177 have recovered. Twenty-nine have been hospitalized.
Governor Kristi Noem says she expects the number of cases to continue increasing for the next few weeks.
Pork Producers Concerned About Supply Chains
With Smithfield Food in Sioux Falls joining the list of midwestern meat packing plants temporarily closed because of COVID-19, producers are anticipating another hit to their bottom line.
Smithfield implemented a 3-day shutdown in order to sanitize the plant and introduce barriers between workers.
Jim Petrik is a farmer and producer from Gayville, and a former officer with the South Dakota Pork Producers Council. He says that three day lag will have an impact.
“It’s not like there’s some other plant operating at capacity that could take on those additional animals,” Petrik says. “Consequently, a hog that didn’t get delivered today is going to have to get delivered next week. Well, you know what, next week’s already full.”
Producers can get penalized for hogs over a certain weight. Petrik says waiting additional days may ding producers’ pocketbooks.