Guidance issued for manufacturers and workers during pandemic

WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on May 12 issued interim guidance for manufacturing workers and employers on how to operate plants and work safely during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The food industry has been pressing for such federal direction, and Geoff Freeman, president and chief executive officer of the Consumer Brands Association, on May 15 said the joint guidance was the type of coordinated federal action required and was “a good step in the right direction.”

At the same time, the CBA confirmed the guidance did not address some pressing questions it and 11 other food and household product organizations, including the American Bakers Association and the North American Millers’ Association, posed in a May 7 letter to Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the Coronavirus Taskforce. The questions included: What threshold of positive COVID tests should trigger a plant shutdown? When and how should manufacturers administer tests as they begin reopening a plant? And will public health authorities accept privately administered test results?