DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Restaurant closures due to the coronavirus have contributed to an estimated $5 billion in losses this year for the U.S. pork industry, and almost overnight millions of hogs stacking up on farms now have little value. Some farmers have resorted to killing piglets because plunging sales mean there is no room to hold additional animals in increasingly cramped conditions. After extended trade disputes and worker shortages, this was supposed to finally be the year hog farmers hit it big with prices expected to climb amid soaring domestic and foreign demand. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is promising to send cash and buy stored pork but industry leaders say it might not be enough to stem devastating losses.

The Atlantic Parks & Recreation Dept. met Monday evening via Zoom conferencing. One of the things they discussed was the opening of the Sunnyside Pool. Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen asked the Board’s opinion on whether or not it would be worth it, giving the uncertainty of the current COVID-19 directive, to fill the pool this week or next, and open it up by the middle or end of May.

Rasmussen said the pools in Minnesota are staying closed for the season. The pool he said “Is already a money losing entity in itself, and if we have a shortened season how much that is actually going to hinder us financially.” He asked if the season could be called “A wash.”

Parks Board Member Jolene Smith said the pool shouldn’t be opened, because “Iowa has not even hit the peak yet (of COVID-19), and I don’t think it’s going to bring in that much revenue toward the cost of opening it.” Board President Stuart Dusenberry asked if Bryant could work out some sort of reciprocal arrangement with the YMCA for the use of their indoor pool if it manages to re-open. Rasmussen said he can talk with Dan Haynes at the Y and see what can be worked out as a partnership.

The Board agreed to table a decision on opening Sunnyside Pool until their meeting May 18th, or until they get better guidance from the State, with regard to a relaxing of restrictions that are currently in-place.

The Atlantic Parks and Rec Board also formed a consensus with regard to use of the Sunnyside Disc Golf Course. Board Chair Stuart Dusenberry suggested the City follows recommendations by the Disc Golf Association, and limit the number of players to no more than four at a time, and, no players from out-of-state allowed to play there at this time, even though the park falls into the “Green spaces” allowances from the State.

Director Rasmussen said also, there are still restrictions on camping at the Schildberg Campground. However, there are eight persons currently placed there. Because they are extended-stay construction workers, they are considered essential service providers, and therefore it is considered their “residence.” They all have signed leases for the duration of their respective projects.

Weekend campers are not allowed at this time due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — JBS USA says it’s temporarily shutting down its big pork processing plant in southwestern Minnesota because of an outbreak of COVID-19 among workers. It’s the third plant JBS has closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the latest in a string of closures by other companies nationwide. Bob Krebs is president of JBS USA Pork.

Krebs says the Worthington plant is critical to local hog producers and the U.S. food supply and that he didn’t make the decision lightly. The plant employs more than 2,000 people and slaughters 20,000 hogs per day. JBS will continue to pay workers during the closure.

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds says ALL the employees of meat packing plants in Tama and Columbus Junction have been tested for COVID-19. The beef plant in Tama reopened this (Monday) morning, but the pork plant in Columbus Junction remains closed. Reynolds says all the meat processing plants in Iowa have been complying with the latest safety recommendations and she does NOT plan to issue an executive order shutting any of them down for cleaning.

Reynolds announced this morning COVID-19 outbreaks have been confirmed at two more Iowa nursing homes and 58 coronavirus patients in Iowa hospitals are in critical condition on ventilators.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa beef processing plant that was idled after a coronavirus outbreak resumed production today (Monday), one day after the state said 177 workers there have tested positive.The Iowa Premium plant in Tama, owned by National Beef, had suspended production for most of the month after the company confirmed that multiple workers had the virus.On Sunday, the office of Gov. Kim Reynolds said that 177 out of more than 500 National Beef workers have tested positive for coronavirus.

A woman who answered the phone at the plant confirmed that production had resumed. A National Beef spokesman said last week that its plan to resume production April 20 hadn’t changed. The company hasn’t responded to inquiries since then.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday, his administration is launching a $19 billion program to help farmers struggling from the coronavirus pandemic. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says the program includes $16 billion in direct payments to farmers, ranchers, and producers who experienced “unprecedented losses” during the pandemic.

Perdue says the Department of Agriculture will spend another $3 billion to purchase fresh produce, dairy, and meat products that will be distributed through food bank networks.

He said also, the USDA will use six-and-a-half billion in existing Commodity Credit Corporation funds along with nineteen-point-five billion of COVID money rather than wait for the replenishment of CCC funds in July.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A cluster of coronavirus cases at a South Dakota pork plant has highlighted the susceptibility of meat processing workers, who stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the line and congregate in crowded spaces. The Smithfield Foods plant has reported 518 infections in employees and another 126 in people connected to them.

In this April 13, 2020, photo, Kulule Amosa steps out of the apartment she shares with her husband who works at the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D. He tested positive for the coronavirus this week after an outbreak at the plant. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves)

Because the workers who slaughter and pack the nation’s meat are vulnerable, so, too, is the supply of that meat. Union leaders wish more had been done sooner at the Smithfield plant. The company says difficulty in getting masks and thermal scanners led to delays in implementing safety measures. But it added hand-sanitizing stations and was scanning employee temperatures before the plant closed.

The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors will meet electronically, Monday evening, via Zoom (https://us04web.zoom.us/j/77845850935?pwd=akhOQU1RMjU2OWNzejQ4c2ZQVERZdz09). The session begins at 5:15-p.m., and will include updates on:

• The impact of COVID-19 on the parks system
• Community Gardens
• Mollett Park (E. 3rd St. Place)
• Online activities
• Summer Program
• an update on the Sunnyside Park Pool, and
• the Disc Golf Course.

Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen will provide a report on:

• The Easter Egg Hunt (Rasmussen previously stated in a social media post, “We had 188 cars come through the park in 3 hours!”) – (Gracie Flinn, of Atlantic, won the Easter Egg contest for her colorful egg. She won an Easter basket full of gifts for her creativity)
• Rasmussen will also report on Native Grasses that have been planted.
• The Parks & Rec Dept. Recreational “Bag Boards” (Commonly referred to as a “Corn Hole” board game), are in and available.
• Benches have been implemented.
• He’ll also talk about the Sunnyside Park Bandshell beautification, and
• Clean-up of Camblin’s Addition Dry Run Creek.

Officials with Tyson Foods Inc., in Perry, confirmed Friday night that some of the company’s labor force in Perry have tested positive for COVID-19. According to media reports, Tyson’s communications manager confirmed multiple individuals at the plant have tested positive, but specific information would not be shared out of concerns over privacy issues. Unconfirmed reports received Friday from employees at the Perry plant claim some 27 suspected or confirmed cases have been identified.

An officials with the Dallas County Public Health Department said Friday her department could neither confirm nor deny that there are any positive COVID-19 cases Tyson plant in Perry plant, because it would fall under the HIPPA guidelines.

HIPPA – The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 – restricts the disclosure of “individually identifiable health information” but does not restrict the disclosure of “de-identified health information” that “neither identifies nor provides a reasonable basis to identify an individual.”

OSSIAN – The Iowa DNR is looking into a fertilizer leak that occurred Thursday in the city of Ossian, in Winneshiek County. The Farmers Union Coop reported Friday morning that a tank had leaked over the winter, into it’s secondary containment structure. The company pumped the containment to an area that discharged into a storm water intake leading to an unnamed tributary. The unnamed tributary flows into Nutting Creek. The release was discovered when people noticed white water in the creek.

The coop estimates between 1,000 – 2,000 gallons were released and is working to recover fertilizer from the storm sewer that goes into the creek. DNR staff were working with the coop on options to recover product in the creek. The DNR has collected water samples for testing, check for environmental impacts in the stream and consider appropriate enforcement action. No dead fish were observed.