US Newberry factory reopens, third employee tests positive for coronavirus

Operations at Samsung’s home appliance manufacturing plant in Newberry County, South Carolina, resumed today following a temporary shut-down last Thursday when two employees tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). In total, an area of 1.5 million square feet has been thoroughly disinfected over the weekend, beginning Friday.

In the meantime, a third employee was confirmed to have been infected but was asymptomatic, according to a Samsung representative cited by The Newberry Observer. The company notified the employee today, along with everyone else who was in contact and asked them to remain in quarantine for the next 14 days.

The third positive coronavirus (COVID-19) case won’t affect operations

The third employee from Newberry that had tested positive for coronavirus was last seen in the building on Thursday, said the Samsung spokesperson. Therefore, the case doesn’t render Samsung’s disinfection work over the weekend futile and it doesn’t prompt another shut-down.

The facility in Newberry County, South Carolina, has around 1,000 employees and the factory churns out washing machines for the US market. It has been operational since 2018 when Samsung invested $380 million to achieve this goal. The factory combines components made in-house by Samsung with supplied modules, and the final products are shipping to customers across the United States.