The truck was en route to Foster Farm's processing plant in Kelso, WA. Animal activists attempted to negotiate with Foster Farms to let them take some of the chickens to animal sanctuaries. Foster Farms refused, citing health risks. One activist was arrested for refusing to release a chicken. The following night a vigil was held to honor the suffering of chickens at Foster Farms and elsewhere. Salmonella outbreak On October 7, 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a public health alert for raw chicken packaged at three Foster Farms facilities in California as an estimated 278 people had fallen ill in the past six months. Strains of multiple antibiotic-resistant Salmonella Heidelberg are associated with chicken distributed to retail outlets in California, Oregon and Washington state. The outbreak spread to 18 states, though most of the reported illnesses were in California. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service did not mandate a recall of chicken from those facilities, lacking the authority to do so. It deemed the company's poultry safe to eat as long as it is cooked to a minimum of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. The USDA agreed to let affected poultry plants remain open after the company agreed to fix problems. In mid-June 2014, Foster Farms executives announced that via stringent measures the company had cut Salmonella contamination in its raw cut-up chicken to about 2%, well below the national industry average of 25%. They reiterated standard food safety advice to handle raw poultry safely and cook it to at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A PBS Frontline report broadcast in May 2015 drew attention to deficient food safety regulation. Shortly after the report was broadcast, Frontline received a letter from a lawyer representing Foster Farms which previously declined all Frontline requests to present their case for the report. The letter disputed the reported finding by the Oregon Public Health Division that one person had died in a 2004 Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak that the state linked to Foster Farms. Frontline invited Foster Farms once again to discuss their position with them, but they would not do so. COVID-19 pandemic By April 20, 2020, four workers were diagnosed with COVID-19 at a Foster Farms plant in Kelso, Washington. Health officials in Cowlitz County, Washington, described the cases as a "cluster". On April 22, Foster Farms reported that an employee at one of its two plants in Fresno, California, had tested positive