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MINNEAPOLIS — Workers protested what they consider dangerous working conditions at the Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant in the central Minnesota town of Cold Spring, the site of one of the largest COVID-19 workplace outbreaks in the state.

State officials confirmed 194 cases as of Monday among the plant’s more than 1,100 workers. That’s more than double the 83 cases just four days earlier.

A chain of around 80 vehicles carrying workers and supporters rolled past the facility Monday, demanding the company shut it down for a deep cleaning and pay the workers for the down time. Pablo Tapia, one of the rally organizers, told the Star Tribune that Pilgrim’s Pride knew the outbreak was growing but kept ignoring it.

Pilgrim’s Pride said in a statement it has “implemented a wide of range of measures to combat coronavirus” at the plant.

Only the JBS pork plant in Worthington has experienced a bigger workplace outbreak in Minnesota. JBS had 541 confirmed cases as of Monday.

Outbreaks at the Cold Spring plant and other facilities in the region have made the greater St. Cloud area a hot zone. State officials say the plant has been a significant driver of the more than 1,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Stearns County as of Tuesday.

The Minnesota Department of Health on Tuesday reported 695 new confirmed cases and 23 deaths statewide, lifting the state’s case count to to 12,494 and its death toll to 614. The department also said 496 patients were hospitalized with the disease as of Tuesday, a new high that was up 44 from Monday, with 199 of those patients in intensive care.