The Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Wallula, Wash., will temporarily halt production while all of its 1,400 workers undergo testing for COVID-19, Tyson Foods said on Thursday morning.

WALLULA, Wash. — Tyson Fresh Meats in Wallula is temporarily shutting down.

Health officials in Walla Walla, Benton and Franklin counties will work with the company to test its more than 1,400 employees for COVID-19 as soon as possible, according to an announcement from Tyson this morning.

As numbers of COVID-19-infected workers at the Wallula facility continued to climb this week — with news Wednesday of the death of one infected worker from the Tri-Cities — family and friends of employees joined together to urge the meat-processing facility to shut down.

Benton-Franklin Health District officials reported 91 cases of the coronavirus linked to the facility among residents of Benton and Franklin counties so far. That brought the total to more than 100 when counting Walla Walla and Umatilla counties’ linked cases, as of Thursday morning.

“Resuming operations is dependent on a variety of factors, including the outcome of team member testing for COVID-19 and how long it takes to get results back,” the company stated in its release today. “Tyson and local health officials are working on a plan to resume production while keeping team members safe by further educating workers on CDC guidance to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

According to the release, workers will be compensated during the shutdown.

Tyson Fresh Meats was under pressure from health officials for testing, but also from a petition signed by family members and friends of workers at the facility who were calling for the plant to shut down temporarily to quell the outbreak of COVID-19.

They had said it was unsafe to work at the plant.

The news follows the closure of two other Tyson plants in Waterloo, Iowa, and Logansport, Indiana, on Wednesday.

“We’re working with local health officials to bring the plant back to full operation as soon as we believe it to be safe,” Steven Stouffer, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats, said in the release. “Unfortunately, the closure will mean reduced food supplies and presents problems to farmers who have no place to take their livestock. It’s a complicated situation across the supply chain.”

Concerned family members in Walla Walla County spoke out about a work environment they believe is unsafe.

The Walla Walla County Department of Community Health said Tyson would be required to have all of its workers tested. The plant was also checked by health inspectors on April 13 and again Monday to ensure compliance of the health department’s social-distancing restrictions and other measures.