LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Ford Motor Co. told workers Wednesday that an employee at Kentucky Truck Plant in eastern Jefferson County tested positive for COVID-19.
But the plant manager told workers he doesn't believe there is "current risk (of the virus) in the building" because the plant is being cleaned and sanitized.
Ford's U.S. plants, in Kentucky Truck Plant and Louisville Assembly Plant, are shut down indefinitely starting this week because of the outbreak. Ford initially said work would restart on March 30, but later said the plants would not be ready by then. No target date has been given.
More than 8,000 people work at Kentucky Truck Plant, which produces Super Duty pickups, the Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator.
The top union official at the plant, Allen Hughes of UAW Local 862 in Louisville, said in a memo to rank-and-file workers on Wednesday that the person who contracted the virus believes that it happened outside the plant, but he or she reported being in "direct contact with four employees while at work."
Andrew Tapp, the plant manager, said in a letter to employees that Ford has "identified and alerted" the people who may had directed contact with the infected person as well as those who may have had "close contact with that 'direct' group," instructing them to self-quarantine for 14 days.
"Nothing is more important than the safety of our workforce," Tapp said in the employee letter. "As you know, the plant is currently shutdown and we have been in the process of cleaning and sanitizing the facility. As a result, we don't believe there is current risk in the building."
Ford confirmed a case of COVID-19 at its Michigan Assembly Plant on March 18, causing the company to shut that facility down.
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