DARLINGTON — Employees at Mexican Cheese Producers on Center Drive in Darlington wait in line at a rear entrance June 23 before going inside one by one to take a diagnostic test for COVID-19. 

The cheese plant shut down the day before due to an employee outbreak, City of Darlington Alder Dave Gough said at a city council meeting. On June 25, the county health department reported seven employees had tested positive for COVID-19 so far. 

Countywide as of June 25, 20 residents had an active case of the infection. A second outbreak in a non-health care workplace in Lafayette County was reported this week by the Department of Health Services, however details were not immediately available.