Officials from the Georgia Department of Public Health can now confirm that nine individuals who work at the Tip Top Poultry plant in Rockmart have tested positive for COVID-19.

When asked, neither officials from both the Georgia Department of Public Health and Tip Top were unable to provide numbers of how many people in total have been tested for the virus in the plant.

Previously, Tip Top Poultry did not comment on and specific details about cases within the plant, but did report that “the data shows that these cases were from community transmission.”

That seems to line up with information from DPH officials, who said the nine cases that have been reported specifically from Tip Top Poultry in Rockmart have come in over several weeks since tracking of the virus began.

Reports of cases within Tip Top came from a community tip e-mailed into Polk.Today.

Polk County as of midweek reported 192 positives for the virus, and out of that only 15 people have needed to be hospitalized, and one death was reported back in May.