JBS USA has removed 202 at-risk workers from its Greeley plant to push back against a COVID-19 outbreak, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The company has been under pressure for months after six of its infected workers died last spring.

JBS sent home workers considered vulnerable because of their age and other health factors, according to the company. The sidelined workers are receiving full pay and benefits.

Their return depends on a decline in infection rates in Weld County, which has logged 3,929 new cases from Nov. 19 to Wednesday with 208 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. 

The state health department said Colorado has had 47,209 cases so far and at least 2,716 deaths due to the virus.

Weld County has had 15,095 cases against a population of 324,492, according to the county health department.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has logged 32 active cases related to the meat plant, which it deemed an outbreak on Nov. 17.

After six workers older than 60 died last spring, the plant was closed for two weeks to allow for disinfecting and modifications, though allegations of dangerous conditions have persisted.

“I’m pretty confident we are not going to have the size of the disruption we saw in April and May,” JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira said in October.

Kim Cordova, head of the labor union that represents JBS plant employees, told the Journal that the move to protect at-risk workers was a positive step.

The group memorialized the workers with a billboard in June, calling for safer conditions, as well.

“These are essential workers,” U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado said at the time. “We need to remember them today and tomorrow and every day … by making sure that the workplace is safe here and all across the country. I think that would be the greatest memorial that we could have.”

In May, Bennet sponsored legislation to reduce fees that meatpacking plants pay for holiday and overtime food inspections.

The Greeley plant employs about 3,500 workers, so the decision to reduce staff has had only “marginal” impact on the plant’s output, the Journal said in its report.

The plant is one of the nation’s largest meat processors, where Colorado cows become burgers and steaks.

Across the country this year, dozens of workers at meatpacking plants became sick and died, forcing shutdowns and concerning the public about the supply of meat.

Tyson Foods Inc., Cargill Inc. and Smithfield Foods Inc. also have responded with safety measures, including automated temperature and partitions between work stations and random testing, while requiring masks in their processing plants and social distancing in company cafeterias.

U.S. meat processors have sent home about 8% of their line workers with pay due to surging cases, the Journal reported.

Wall Street Journal subscribers can read its story by clicking here.