Abattoirs: Coronavirus can spread over 8m at cutting floor in slaughter houses.

Abattoirs: Coronavirus can spread over 8m at cutting floor in slaughter houses. Circumstances at a cutting floor can help SARS-CoV-2 spread over distances over 8 metres. That has become clear in a case study about the first wave of Covid-19 outbreaks in May, at Germany’s largest slaughterhouse, owned by Tönnies.

 The study also showed that all infections during this first wave of Covid-19 outbreaks originated with just one employee. It occurred because a slaughterhouse employee got in touch with employees of an infected plant of a different packer, Westcrown, located in Dissen. Thirdly, employee housing did not play a major role in that first wave, which occurred in late May.

 In mid-June a second wave followed, which caused the meatpacker to close its doors for almost a month. The research was carried out by a joint study of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, the University Medical Center Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf and the Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology.

 The study showed that the virus most likely spread from 1 single employee who was working on the cutting floor for beef. This employee indicated that together with a colleague, he had been in touch with employees of the sow cutting floor at Westcrown in Dissen, Lower Saxony. He did so after Covid-19 had been detected in that plant.

 The Tönnies employee did not demonstrate any clinical signs of the virus and the contact with Westcrown employees was not considered to be a high-risk contact, which is why the employee continued to show up at work. At 3 days after the meeting, the employee was tested and one day later a positive result followed, for both the employee as well as the colleague. Both then had to go into quarantine.

 The researchers also zoomed in on the routes the virus took from this one employee to the other employees within Tönnies. From that research, it emerged that most colleagues within an 8m radius around the infected colleague had also tested positive.

In the study it was therefore concluded that virus particles can be transmitted over longer distances under the conditions of a cutting floor. Professor Adam Grundhoff, co-author of the research, said, “Our results indicate that the conditions during cutting enhance the aerosol transfer of SARS-CoV-2 particles over longer distances,think of the lower temperature and a limited input of fresh air in combination with heavy manual labour.

 It is very likely that these factors in general play a crucial role in outbreaks all over the world in meat or fish processing companies. Obviously, under those conditions, a distance of 1.5 to 3 metres are insufficient to prevent transmission.”

 There is a need to improve physical distancing in the slaughter houses as well as use better protective equipment to enhance safety.

Meat processing companies such as Cargill are protecting workers by provision of face shields, barriers between work stations, hair nets, boots and lots more.

The use of face shields in slaughter houses is a welcome development alongside maintaining required distance as well as use of hand sanitizers or washing hands with soap and water.

 More on research here