Coronavirus outbreak reported at Foster Farms’ Livingston complex
An outbreak of coronavirus has been confirmed at Foster Farms’ Livingston complex — the second Merced County outbreak connected to the Valley poultry company.
The Merced County Department of Health on June 29 confirmed 13 individuals tested positive.
Calls were placed to the company Thursday, but efforts to reach company officials were not successful.
Merced County uses the California Department of Public Health’s parameters for an outbreak, which is defined as three or more positive individuals with no linkage outside of the workplace, working in the same facility.
Just one resident of a skilled nursing facility constitutes an outbreak due to the high-risk environment.
An outbreak was reported at a Foster Farms Turkey ranch May 30. A total of six persons contracted COVID-19 from exposure between individuals at the facility.
The most recent Foster Farms outbreak is one of nine active in Merced County.
Others include: New Bethany Residential Care (four cases), Dutch Bros (four cases), John O’Banion (three cases), Creative Alternatives (five cases), Dr. Von Goodin’s dental office (three cases), Emerald Textiles (three cases), a migrant living community in Merced (12 cases) and ACTenviro Merced (6 cases).
Merced County reported 91 new infections on Thursday, raising the known county caseload to 1,793 since the pandemic began. Twelve Merced County residents have died and 35 remain hospitalized.
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 7:42 PM with the headline "Coronavirus outbreak reported at Foster Farms’ Livingston complex."
