Another major meatpacking company, JBS, changed its mind about large-scale testing over a single weekend.
large-scale 大規(guī)模的蜒犯，大范圍的
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 新冠病毒檢測(cè)試劑盒
work force 勞動(dòng)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 給予欲虚，提供
quarantine 隔離
The company recognized the "potential positive impact of temporary closure on public health," Cameron Bruett, a JBS spokesman, said.
potential 潛在的，可能的
temporary 臨時(shí)的
closure 關(guān)閉
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 聯(lián)邦政府
critical role 關(guān)鍵角色
governor 州長(zhǎng)
"It is still unclear whether JBS will conduct testing."
conduct 組織叫胖，實(shí)施
Large numbers of employees have become infected in other businesses where people work close together, like grocery stores and e-commerce warehouses.
warehouse 倉(cāng)庫(kù)
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 鞏固，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 買下…的全部產(chǎn)權(quán)糙置；出錢使…放棄地位
competitors 競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)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 最初投資琢蛤，[金融] 期初投資
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 重新燃燒；再點(diǎn)燃
longstanding 由來已久的
"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 農(nóng)業(yè)和貿(mào)易政策研究所
advocacy 擁護(hù)
"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
