GREELEY, Colo. (KDVR) — Alfredo Hernandez, a 30-year veteran of the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley is recovering from COVID-19 after being discharged from a hospital on April 5. He said, through translation on Monday, JBS waited too long to close and still needs to do more for employees.

Alfredo was in the hospital for nine days and was nearly placed on a ventilator.

More than 6,000 people work at the JBS facility in Greeley. As an employee at the cafeteria, Alfredo would have routine contact with hundreds of workers. 

He says he started feeling sick on March 13.

“I had a headache, like everyone, weak, tired, I wasn’t hungry,” he said through a Spanish-to-English interpreter.

He was at an emergency room about two weeks later.

“He had his phone, so I would just keep calling him to see what they were doing … they did X-rays of his chest,” Rosario Hernandez, Alfredo’s wife, said.

Alfredo and Rosario say the JBS outbreak could have and should have been addressed sooner to limit coronavirus spread.

“From the very beginning, they’ve handled it the wrong way,” Rosario said. “They didn’t take their temperatures. They didn’t ask [employees] if they were sick or nothing.”

Alfredo expressed disappointment in his employer.

“The company only cares about people going into work and giving them jobs,” he said through translation. “That’s all. From there, they don’t care about workers.”

JBS says it has adopted temperature checks and has implemented physical distancing and new cleaning procedures.

The company says employees will continue to be paid during the closure. 

Meanwhile, Rosario says some of Alfredo’s coworkers have been forced to go on ventilators.

“They’re getting worse,” she said. “Something needs to be done because we’re going to lose more people.”

Some workers are still being asked to show up to work on Tuesday and Wednesday. The company says limited staff is needed to wind down operations. There will be a full closure starting Thursday, according to a JBS press release.