Health staff taking COVID-19 samples at a drive-thru testing facility at the Brooks Health Centre in April. (CHAT News Today)

By Alex McCuaig

Safety improvements at Brooks meat processor protecting workers from COVID

Dec 4, 2020 | 12:00 PM

BROOKS, AB – As cases surge across the province, Brooks has managed to avoid a repeat of the city’s outbreak in the spring which saw more than a thousand active cases swamp the community of 15,000 people.

It was a harrowing scene that unfolded in the city in April with a makeshift testing facility set up in a parking lot at the Brooks Health Centre.

There were lessons learned during the spring which saw 650 cases linked to those who work at the JBS meat processing facility.

Mayor Barry Morishita says JBS has reacted to the initial spring outbreak by imposing wide-ranging safety initiatives that have prevented further outbreaks.

“They continue to take measures and they continue to very pro-active,” said Morishita. “Where the community spread was happening, they protected their workers which protected their business and that made a lot of sense and they continue to do that.”

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It’s a sentiment shared by Mohammed Idriss, Manager of Brooks and County Immigration Services, who provides supports to many of the newcomers who work at JBS.

“If you had the experience of going in before, you might not recognize many areas of the plant,” said Idriss. “It’s one-way traffic – there is no two-way traffic. It is social distancing, it is additional spacing for breaks, cafeteria, and all of that and there are actual partitions on the assembly line.”

The company is reaching out to the community as well, announcing in October it will be providing $2 million to groups in the city to help deal with the pandemic.

While the company did not respond to a request for comment, Morishita says he is appreciative of JBS’s efforts to improve COVID protections in the city.

“I think our community is benefiting from them being able to work with us and us being able to work with them,” said Morishita. “And I’m really happy to have them as our partner in our community.”