While he was in the emergency room, Cargill shut down the Hazleton plant to disinfect everything, install barriers between workstations, and give employees time to heal.
After a long economic decline, Hazleton, located 130 miles west of New York in anthracite coal country, lured Cargill in 2000 with generous tax breaks.
In Hazleton, Cargill started educating workers and staff on social distancing and took other precautions starting on March 3, says Aaron Humes, the plant's general manager.