Visiting Filipino’s Covid-19 death in Canada linked to Cargill meat plant

Armando Sallegue, 71, died of coronavirus while visiting family in Alberta, Canada. ARWYN SALLEGUE

HIGH RIVER, Alberta — A Filipino whose son is a worker at the Covid-19 stricken Cargill meat processing plant here has died of the virus. The Cargill meat plant has the highest single-site incidence of coronavirus infection in Canada.

Armando Sallegue, 71, died Tuesday, May 5. A widower from the Philippines who had been on a family visit to Canada since early this year was rushed to hospital April 24, a day after his son, Arwyn, a worker at the Cargill plant, tested positive for coronavirus.

Sallegue had been on a respirator and in an induced coma when he died on his late wife’s birthday, according to a report by Radio Canada International.

His death was the second linked to the outbreak at the Cargill plant north of High River. A woman worker, Biu Thi Hiep, was the first in the plant to die of the virus.

Her death, along with over 1,500 COVID-19 cases (including nearly 950 employees) prompted Cargill to shut down for two weeks. But the plant has reopened and many workers came to work.

Members of the Alberta Labour Movement, including representatives from the workers’ union, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401, have been outside the facility to show support and hand out masks.