Virus Testing Story

This came up last night via the German news and it has an impact on the country. It involves another element of the Coronavirus.  ARD (public TV) gave the best description of the whole situation. 

So up in the NW part of Germany....there is this 'giant' meat-processing company (Tonnes).  This is in the Gutersloh area of Germany.  Tonnes has several plants around Germany but this is a major operation there in the region. 

For some reason, there was the suggestion of Covid-19 going around, so a mass test was conducted at the meat-processing plant.  657 infections were noted in this test.

So the plant yesterday....shut down.  What the plant admits is that the testing is NOT complete, and thousands more employees have to be tested.  The odds here?  Well....you can't be sure of anything.  It might be another hundred or so....it might reach to another thousand.

The folks who show positive?  On quarantine for a minimum of two weeks, or until a test shows they are 'clear'.  The rest?  The company says this one single plant will be shut down for around seven to fourteen days.  The fact that the bulk of employees have no virus?  They will simply be sitting idle. 

The problem here?  Well....it would appear that you'd have to come in and test people almost weekly (figure around 200 Euro per test)....if you wanted public confidence.

Affecting the meat supply?  Various people are arguing about this.  Some experts say that in the northwest of Germany....some brand items in the meat department will be missing and a 'shortage' of some type will exist.  Others say that various other meat processing plants could make up for this, and thus a  meat-crisis will not exist.

But here's the part of the story missing.  One would think....this will trigger more tests around meat-processing plants in Germany, and over the next month....you might find 10,000 people who are infected and working in the plants.  At that point, yeah....you might have a little crisis of the meat supply. 

It's just another part of the Covid-19 story and how things develop.