Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said he expects meatpacking plants to reopen in "days not weeks" under President Donald Trump's executive order invoking the
Defense Production Act.
Slaughterhouse workers should begin receiving more protective gear and access to coronavirus testing "virtually immediately," Perdue said Thursday in a telephone interview. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has "already begun" working on orders to get them filled on a priority basis by vendors similar to health care workers, he said.