Meat processors have always had to work harder than other industries to keep their employees safe. After all, when you have a processing floor full of processing machinery and knives, you have more inherent danger than, say, an accounting firm.
The industry has worked to improve worker safety, but the Coronavirus has brought a new threat that the industry, not to mention the country, was not prepared to handle. The number of plant closures, mass outbreaks in plants and supply chain disruptions gave evidence to that.