The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health ordered blanks manufacturer Los Angeles Apparel to remain closed after more than 300 of its workers were confirmed to be infected with COVID-19. It has also been confirmed that four Los Angeles Apparel employees died from COVID-19.

On June 27, the department closed the plant located south of downtown Los Angeles because it said that Los Angeles Apparel had not cooperated with the health department’s investigations. An investigation began soon after the deaths of three Los Angeles Apparel employees, who passed in early June, were brought to the attention of the department. Los Angeles Apparel will remain closed until the company demonstrates that it is under full compliance with public-health mandates, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the department’s director said.

“Our paramount concern is for the safety of all employees and their families, and the department will continue to actively monitor Los Angeles Apparel and other manufacturing work sites to fully implement the infection control and distancing safety requirements at work environment for all employees,” Ferrer said. “Our department is moving to accelerate our response to these situations, and we need the full cooperation of the business community to do so.”

Los Angeles Apparel said that it had followed the department of health’s rules.

“From the onset of the virus and much prior to masks being recommended or mandated, all Los Angeles Apparel employees have been wearing masks. We have enforced social distancing requirements, spacing machines and break areas by six feet or more apart. We have set up hand sanitizer and disinfectant stations throughout the factory. We test each employee and visitor’s temperature and dispense hand sanitizer before they are permitted to enter the facilities. We have enforced routine cleaning and disinfecting of workstations and equipment. We have installed facial-recognition time clocks to reduce the amount of surfaces that employees have to touch throughout the day,” a Los Angeles Apparel statement noted on its Instagram site @losangelesapparel.

As COVID-19 cases spike, The Department of Public Health’s Environmental Health Division will run unannounced inspections of garment- and food-manufacturing facilities to ensure that they are following health protocols, according to a statement from the department.

The investigation of Los Angeles Apparel started in June 19, after a notification from a healthcare provider. On June 26, the department visited Los Angeles Apparel and the inspection found that a number of its rules were broken. It also said that Los Angeles Apparel had not provided a complete list of its workers who were infected.