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# GRAPHIC:  We've been tracking meatpacking plant outbreaks. Not all are accounted for.
- URL: https://www.investigatemidwest.org/graphic-weve-been-tracking-meatpacking-plant-outbreaks-not-all-are-accounted-for/
- Published: 2020-08-19T23:38:33.000Z
- Updated: 2020-08-19T23:38:33.000Z
- Description: Because in some instances only aggregate data has been released, only about half of meatpacking plants with outbreaks have been publicly identified.
- Author: Sky Chadde, Investigate Midwest
- Tags: Agribusiness, Data Harvest, Graphics, Coronavirus, COVID-19, TP::Explainer, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-06-18 04:56

Almost 400 meatpacking plants in the United States have had outbreaks of COVID-19 as Aug. 19, [according to Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting tracking](https://www.investigatemidwest.org/tracking-covid-19s-impact-on-meatpacking-workers-and-industry/).

However, only roughly half of those plants have been publicly identified, despite calls for companies and government officials to identify them all.

In June, Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., [asked](https://www.investigatemidwest.org/content/files/www-warren-senate-gov/imo/media/doc/2020-06-22-letter-to-meatpackers-investigating-manipulation-of-covid-19-crisis.pdf) four major meatpacking companies to tally what plants had outbreaks and how many workers were infected.

The companies — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and Smithfield Foods — [refused](https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-booker-release-information-from-their-investigation-into-giant-meatpackers-exploiting-workers-and-consumers-during-covid-19?ref=investigatemidwest.org).

Other efforts to account for what specific plants have had outbreaks have been stymied.

Brown County, Wisconsin, officials [told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel](https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/05/08/second-wisconsin-meatpacking-worker-dies-of-coronavirus-800-infected/3095122001/?ref=investigatemidwest.org) they had stopped tracking cases tied to plants because it was time-consuming.

Virginia officials, though they released data on nursing homes, said they wouldn't do the same for poultry plants because of privacy concerns, [according to the Virginia Mercury](https://www.virginiamercury.com/2020/07/09/virginia-wont-release-data-on-covid-19-outbreaks-at-chicken-plants-despite-nursing-home-reversal/?ref=investigatemidwest.org).

North Carolina, which has had the most plants with outbreaks, has also resisted releasing a specific list. Instead, it has released aggregate data for the whole state.