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Hundreds of meat plant workers across the country have fallen ill with the coronavirus, leading to a slowdown in output and surge in prices.

By the numbers, per Bloomberg: The price of wholesale pork rose by 7.2% to 55.86 cents a pound Thursday — the largest increase in more than two years. Choice-grade beef prices rose to a one-month high of $2.36 a pound, climbing for six straight days through Thursday.

The increase in prices comes as Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, announced three plant closures in recent days. Among those are a pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., At least 644 cases of the virus have been traced back to the plant.

Go deeper: Stores struggle to fill meat demand as coronavirus hits processing plants

Pork and beef prices surge as meat plants shutter due to coronavirus

Hundreds of meat plant workers across the country have fallen ill.

A person in the meat section of a grocery store.

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Hundreds of meat plant workers across the country have fallen ill with the coronavirus, leading to a slowdown in output and surge in prices.By the numbers, per <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Bloomberg" data-vars-click-url="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-17/shutdowns-at-u-s-meat-plants-spur-surge-in-pork-and-beef-prices?sref=yLCixKPR" data-vars-content-id="52cdf848-3315-4077-90e5-90e1ccbddd39" data-vars-headline="Pork and beef prices surge as meat plants shutter due to coronavirus" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-17/shutdowns-at-u-s-meat-plants-spur-surge-in-pork-and-beef-prices?sref=yLCixKPR" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>: The price of wholesale pork rose by 7.2% to 55.86 cents a pound Thursday — the largest increase in more than two years. Choice-grade beef prices rose to a one-month high of $2.36 a pound, climbing for six straight days through Thursday.

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

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