Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel is responding to a recent Editor’s corner in The Post-Journal and OBSERVER that criticized the delay in letting the public know of an outbreak at a north county food processing plant.

In a commentary that will be published Tuesday in both newspapers, Wendel defends the county and its Health Department’s response to the situation at Fieldbrook Foods in Dunkirk.

“There was no decision by Chautauqua County government to say we deliberately waited or wished the situation at Fieldbrook Foods would go away,” he writes. “To the contrary, on Thursday, Aug. 20, we were informed that there was a potential uptick in possible cases at Fieldbrook Foods. We contacted Fieldbrook Foods local HR director, officials at its parent corporation, Wells Inc., and officials of the New York state Department of Health (NYSDOH) to establish proactive wide-scale testing for its employees at the Dunkirk facility.”

Wendel also denied top county leaders had no role in the spike. “In no way can county leaders be partly responsible for an outbreak that occurred in local businesses. Individuals who were symptomatic and tested were told to quarantine and not return to work.”

He later states: “On Friday, Aug. 21, Fieldbrook Foods, Chautauqua County Department of Health, NYS DOH, and Wells Inc. along with Chautauqua County Public Health Director Christine Schuyler and I were on a conference call to establish widespread testing of the employees at Fieldbrook Foods. At the end of business on (Aug. 21), it was determined that there were nine related cases of COVID-19 to Fieldbrook Foods.

Wendel and the Health Department did not inform the public of the outbreak, however, until Aug. 24 at an afternoon press conference in Mayville. By that time, the county noted there were already more than 20 cases at the plant.