The Food Chain's Weakest Link: Slaughterhouses
食品链最薄弱的环节——屠宰场
The decline is partly driven by the shutdown of restaurants and hotels, but plant closings have also caused a major disruption, leaving many ranchers with nowhere to send their animals.
driven by 驱动, 由…影响
disruption 扰乱，打乱，中断
rancher 牧场主
Even as one prominent meat executive warned on Easter that the nation was "dangerously close" to a meat shortage, state and federal regulators have been sending mixed signals to the industry about how to deal with the crisis.
prominent 突出的，显著的；杰出的；卓越的
executive 高管
federal regulators 联邦监管机构
In South Dakota, Gov. Kristi Noem requested publicly that Smithfield Foods close its huge pork facility in Sioux Falls after testing revealed that the plant accounted for nearly half the coronavirus cases in the city and the surrounding county.
facility 设备
reveale 显示
account for 占
But federal officials had been repeatedly urging the company and other meat producers to find ways to keep their plants running because of their importance to the food supply, according to two people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.
brief 简报，摘要；作…的提要
condition 条件；情况；环境；身份
anonymity 匿名者
By Thursday, the tests had revealed that the pork plant was the nation's single largest "hot spot," with about 16 percent of the 3,700 employees testing positive for the virus.
positive 阳性的
The hospitalization rate among the workers has been relatively low because they tend to be younger, said Dr. David Basel, a vice president at the Avera Medical Group in Sioux Falls, who has been involved in the testing of the Smithfield employees.
vice president 副总统；副主席
Dr.Basel praised Smithfield for encouraging its employees, many of whom are refugees and immigrants from Latin America and Asia and speak 80 different dialects, to get tested.
refugee 难民，避难者；流亡者，逃亡者
dialect 方言
Doctors made instructional videos in Nepalese and Spanish, and tracked down and tested workers who had been in close contact with infected employees.
instructional 教学的；指导的，教育的
Nepalese 尼泊尔语
track down 追踪
"The numbers are improving after the plant closed," Dr. Basel said. "I'am feeling more optimistic this week."
optimistic 乐观
Still, the high infection rate raised questions about whether Smithfield had done enough to carry out social-distancing protocols and to supply protective gear.
the high infection rate 高感染率
social-distancing protocols 居家隔离政策
At least one worker has died from the virus, according to the state.
On Thursday, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention toured the Sioux Falls plant, an eight-story facility that churned 24 hours a day alongside the Big Sioux River, producing 5 percent of the nation's pork.
tour 视察
eight-story 八层楼高的
churn 搅拌
The agency is expected to release recommendations in the next few days on how to prevent another outbreak when the plant reopens.
recommendations 推荐
The company has not given a date.
