Smithfield Foods offers COVID-19 shots at Sioux Falls plant

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls is making it easier for some of its employees to get the coronavirus vaccine.

The company is offering COVID-19 shots Friday at the food processing plant where hundreds of workers have been infected with the virus since the pandemic began.

The vaccine comes from the South Dakota Department of Health and will be administered by Avery Health. Department spokesman Daniel Bucheli says 500 vaccine doses are available. Smithfield workers will receive the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and it will be voluntary, the Argus Leader reported.

The plant in Sioux Falls employs about 3,600 workers. Back in April of 2020, the plant was home to the largest outbreak of coronavirus at a single facility in the United States.

At least 1,294 Smithfield workers contracted coronavirus, and four employees died from complications in the spring of 2020, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

South Dakota health officials on Thursday confirmed 263 new COVID-19 cases and three new deaths, increasing the totals to 116,370 positive tests and 1,927 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The number of active cases continues to rise at 2,428, a month after hitting a low of 1,891. Hospitalizations are up to 74, with 16 patients being treated in intensive care units.