CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Chicago tortilla maker, El Milagro has shut down production at its facility on the city’s Lower West Side for two weeks for cleaning after one worker died from COVID-19.
The tortilla maker temporarily closed up shop over the weekend, sending employees home for 14 days, to "allow all employees at this plant to essentially quarantine for two weeks and reduce the risk of this virus spreading,” El Milagro said in the letter.
One employee has died of complications from COVID-19. Two others have tested positive and at least four others are reported to have symptoms, El Milagro said in the letter. The employee who died had not been at work since April 9.
According to the Tribune, El Milagro has brought in an outside company to do thorough cleaning and sanitation.
Arise Chicago, a worker's rights organization that works with the immigrant community claims employees have complained for weeks about conditions they considered unsafe. The organization said employees tend to work close to one another in the production lines, closer than six feet. An employee of El Milagro, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Tribune the plant’s nearly 100 employees weren’t given face masks during the first few weeks of the pandemic and weren’t required to wear them until two weeks ago.
El Milagro said in the employee letter that it provided employees masks and that it took precautions to keep them separated.
In a letter to its customers, El Milagro said its facility will be closed through May 9. The company said the workers are being paid for the two weeks that they are off.