Another major meatpacking company, JBS, changed its mind about large-scale testing over a single weekend.
large-scale 大规模的，大范围的
On April 10, JBS announced that it had worked with Gov. Jared Polis and other officials in Colorado to obtain thousands of coronavirus testing kits for its work force at a beef production facility in Greeley where there had been a surge of cases.
coronavirus testing kits 新冠病毒检测试剂盒
work force 劳动力
But after it began testing the next day, the company changed course, saying it would not administer the tests and would instead close the plant until April 24 so employees could go into quarantine.
administer 给予，提供
quarantine 隔离
The company recognized the "potential positive impact of temporary closure on public health," Cameron Bruett, a JBS spokesman, said.
potential 潜在的，可能的
temporary 临时的
closure 关闭
On Wednesday, Colorado officials reported that four workers at the JBS plant had died of the virus.
Mr.Polis has urged the federal government to "help get JBS open as soon as possible, because of their critical role in food security," said Conor Cahill, a spokesman for the governor.
federal government 联邦政府
critical role 关键角色
governor 州长
"It is still unclear whether JBS will conduct testing."
conduct 组织，实施
Large numbers of employees have become infected in other businesses where people work close together, like grocery stores and e-commerce warehouses.
warehouse 仓库
But the pandemic has caused more serious disruption in the meat industry, where decades of consolidation have given outsize importance to a relatively small number of plants.
consolidation 巩固，合并
In the 1980s and ‘90s, companies like Smithfield, which is now owned by a Chinese pork company, bought out competitors and designed massive plants that could slaughter more than a million animals a year.
buy out 买下…的全部产权；出钱使…放弃地位
competitors 竞争对手
slaughter 屠宰
At the same time, meatpacking became more concentrated in a few states where animal feed is grown, like Iowa and South Dakota.
concentrated 整合的
In the pork industry, the portion of hogs slaughtered in plants that could process more than one million a year rose to 88 percent in 1997 from 38 percent in 1977, according to the Department of Agriculture.
portion 部分
A bigger plant meant more profits on the initial investment.
initial investment 最初投资，[金融] 期初投资
In recent years, critics of the meat industry have blamed that rapid consolidation for the spread of animal diseases like avian flu, as well as the rise of environmentally harmful practices like factory farming.
rapid consolidation 快速整合
The pandemic has reignited those longstanding concerns.
reignite 重新燃烧；再点燃
longstanding 由来已久的
"When you get to this kind of size, it increases risk," said Ben Lilliston, who helps run the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a farm advocacy group.
the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy 农业和贸易政策研究所
advocacy 拥护
"When something goes wrong in a really big plant like this, you have a really big problem. These are vulnerable systems."
vulnerable 脆弱的
