A Cafe Valley employee in Marion has tested positive for COVID-19.
The employee was a man who worked in the maintenance department and found out he was COVID-19 positive on Sunday. Grant County also added it’s eighth positive case of COVID-19 to the county’s total.
According to General Manager Paul Dash, those who came in contact with the infected employee were given a choice to either self-quarantine or continue to work. Out of the 11 other maintenance employees, eight chose to self-quarantine.
Dash said Cafe Valley has put in several precautionary measures to try and ensure employee’s safety. He said at the entrance and exits of the company every person must submit to a check of their temperature and is asked a series of questions before they can enter the factory.
The three production lines are also sanitized multiple times each day. Dash added that if an employee feels ill during their shift, the protocol is to shut the line down, send those workers home and sanitize the line. The company then gets in contact with those who were recently in contact with the sick employee.
Dash said that the company is remaining open because it serves as an important part of the food supply chain.
“We are part of the critical food supply chain to the United States,” he said. “Our product goes into every state in the country, including Alaska and Puerto Rico. Some people might say cakes and muffins are junk food and to you and me they might be, (for others) it’s comfort food.”
For Dash, he said it’s about trying to do the company’s part in keeping the national supply chain up and running while providing jobs for those willing to work and be safe.
Today the Indiana State Department of Health today announced that 374 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at ISDH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and private laboratories.
That brings to 2,159 the total number of Indiana residents known to have the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s total. Forty-nine Hoosiers have died.
To date, 13,373 tests have been reported to ISDH, up from 11,658 on Monday.
Marion County had the most new cases, at 170, while Lake County had 50, Johnson County had 20, Hamilton County had 16, St. Joseph County had 13 and Hendricks County had 11.
