(The Center Square) – JBS reopened its Greeley beef processing facility Friday after a two-week closure due to a COVID-19 outbreak among its employees.

The company's JBS USA subsidiary and the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to implement new criteria at the Greeley beef production facility April 24.

Employees are required to wear face masks during their shifts, and the masks will be provided. The entire production facility was disinfected through coordination with NIOSH, and sanitizer will also be provided throughout the production facility. 

"Weld County and JBS have also designed a testing and containment strategy whereby employees who show symptoms during a daily entry screening process will get tested onsite," the statement said. For the first days of reopened operations, April 24 through April 28, public health officials with the Weld County government will provide staff for onsite testing for two hours at the beginning of each shift.

The JBS beef plant was closed by Weld County April 11 for violations of proximity between the workers in the plan. According to county officials, COVID-19 spread through the facility. Some 277 workers have tested positive for the virus.

The Greeley plant employs about 6,000 workers.