An Illinois-based meat manufacturer is suing the state of New Mexico after health officials there ordered a processing plant closed for two weeks because of a coronavirus outbreak.
In a complaint filed in federal district court, Stampede Meat said it will lose millions of pounds of meat at a plant in Sunland Park, just across the state line from El Paso, Texas, and asked a judge to throw out the order.
In court documents filed Friday, the company outlined several measures it had taken to halt the virus’ spread and cited President Donald Trump’s April 28 executive order invoking the Defense Production Act.
The order required meat processing plants to remain open during the pandemic.
In a Nov. 3 letter to the company, a New Mexico health official cited six positive coronavirus tests between Oct. 23 and Oct. 27 and ordered the plant closed for two weeks.
The New Mexico Department of Heath referred questions about the suit to a spokeswoman for the state’s environmental department. The spokeswoman, Maddy Hayden, declined to discuss the suit, but said the state’s ability to protect the public’s health and safety has been repeatedly upheld by courts.
Stampede Meat employs more than 500 workers at its Sunland Park plant. Hayden said that more than 100 workers there have tested positive since the pandemic began.
Stampede did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
The suit came as the United States saw its highest single-day tallies of coronavirus infections in the country. More than 120,000 people tested positive for the virus on Thursday, according to an NBC News tally.
The Midwest and Southwest have been hit hard. In New Mexico, the number of cases steadily rose over the last two weeks, jumping from just over 700 on Oct. 8 to 1,210 on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.
Nearby El Paso has also seen a surge in infections, with the number of cases nearly doubling in the last month, according to Johns Hopkins. So many people are dying in the county that six mobile morgues have been set up, with four more on the way, officials said Monday.
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November 10, 2020 at 06:19AM
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Meat processing plant ordered to shut down after Covid outbreak, company sues New Mexico - NBC News
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