Similarly, 62 year old Natalio Wicab - who died from COVID complications on Saturday - reportedly has family members who are infected.
And, the San Felipe villager also had an extensive network of co-workers who now have to be tested. He worked at the Caribbean Chicken Processing Plant in Blue Creek - and today Armando Cowo of the Poultry Association remembered his friend:
Armando Cowo, Belize Poultry Association
"Mr . Natalio Wicab as you have heard in the grape vine works for Caribbean Chicken, he works at the plant we got confirmation as well this morning of his passing and that it was due to COVID-19."
"For me it's a loss because he was my friend because every time I, my job allows me to move around and yes he. I can say he was not a close close friend because I don;t see him often but he was a very jovial senior gentleman, very nice I must say and it hurts me a lot to hear that we lost him."
"He was working on one of the lines entering the plant. So it was like he was mostly doing let's say the dirty work the birds come live to go into the slaughter plant, he was working on one of those lines."
Cherisse Halsall:
"What's the risk of contamination being that he had contracted the disease to the consumer."
Armando Cowo, Belize Poultry Association
"We're taking precautionary measures like what everyone has done. He had existing comorbidity unfortunately the gentleman had a heart problem that just got complicated by the COVID-19. We don't know where it came from. As you can recall about a month ago that area was under quarantine so we don't know if the virus was still circulating in people who were asymptomatic but it has reared up it's head again in that part of the country and this is the effect it is having on us now."
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