The Ajinomoto food plant in Carthage was shut down on Wednesday after four employees tested positive last week for Covid-19, according to a company spokesman.
Paul Taylor, spokesperson for Ajinomoto Foods North America Inc., said that none of the four employees has worked at the plant since June 12, but the company decided to shut it down in order to do a deep cleaning and allow employees to “separate and shelter at home.”
This comes as the Jasper County Health Department released new numbers on Wednesday showing that Covid-19 cases were spiking around Carthage.
The Health Department, in a release on Wednesday, said 181 people were in isolation, meaning they had tested positive for the virus and were staying away from other people.
That’s a jump of 95 cases since Sunday, June 14.
The health department said 535 people had been placed in quarantine, meaning they had come in contact with someone who had tested positive and were being asked to shelter at home for at least 14 days.
That’s an increase from 349 people under quarantine on Sunday.
The health department said the cases “continue to be clustered around Carthage.”
Here is the entire statement from Ajinomoto Foods:
“We temporarily shut down our Carthage plant today due to coronavirus issues. We recently became aware that four of our employees in Carthage tested positive for COVID-19.
“The last day any of these employees worked was June 12. We conducted a thorough contract trace and have notified all employees who were in contact with these individuals. But in light of the current uptick in COVID-19 cases in the area, and in order to protect the health and safety of our employees and the community, we decided to temporarily shut down the plant.
“This shutdown will give us a chance to do a deep cleaning of the facility and will allow our employees to separate and shelter at home.
“We hope to reopen as soon as possible once we feel comfortable about our employees’ safety. All eligible employees will be provided paid leave through our COVID Care Paid Time program. We are also coordinating closely with the local health department.”
