Hundreds of U.S. Meat Workers Have Now Tested Positive for Virus

[LovingA2andMI]

"There’s been a spike in coronavirus cases at meat plants in the U.S., with hundreds of reported infections in just the last week. That’s adding to questions over the fragility of the food-supply chain and raising concerns over worker safety.

As many as 50 people at a JBS SA beef facility in Colorado’s Weld County tested positive, adding to more than 160 cases at a Cargill Inc. meat-packaging plant in Pennsylvania, union officials said on Friday. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on Friday reported 190 cases at a Smithfield Foods Inc. pork facility, the Associated Press said. The Cargill and Smithfield plants are being shuttered, while JBS said it will continue operations.

Workers are also starting to die. Two more deaths were reported by union officials on Friday, one at the Greeley, Colorado meat plant and one in Pennsylvania. Both those facilities are owned by JBS SA, the world’s top meat producer, which didn’t confirm the deaths.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-10/worsening-outbreak-at-colorado-meat-plant-impacts-as-many-as-300?

"

So if the food supply goes, what do we have? Trump lack of basic common decently and concern is causing deaths and appears to be on a tipping point of salvation if these unsettling numbers in the food supply chain keeps growing.

Is America SICK and TIRED of the Trump Show yet?

[Laelth]

1. k&r for visibility.

Our food supply is a big, BIG deal.

-Laelth

[LovingA2andMI]

11. Agree...

Huge deal.

[jmg257]

2. Should we be shutting down the meat plants? nt

[LovingA2andMI]

12. Good Question....

But how would we eat?

[Lucinda]

33. lots of other foods - like beans - are great protein sources n/t

[uponit7771]

49. If they can't be quickly sanitized or ran on a skelaton crew yes. I was called lathered up

... when I proposed there will be issues among the power plant operation workers.

[janterry]

3. MOST of us will get Covid

n/t

[LovingA2andMI]

7. Pretty Much....

This.....

[UpInArms]

4. Worker safety has never been a priority with these major corporations

They have considered all their workers to be disposable and easily replaceable

Our way of doing business in this country has put everyone and everything in danger

[KY_EnviroGuy]

17. JBS S.A. is a Brazilian company with sordid history. Not expecting them to do the right thing.

Owners appear to be crooks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joesley_Batista

The company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JBS_S.A.

Including this:

2018: United States Department of Agriculture bailout
JBS, a Brazilian-owned company, received $22.3 million from the USDA farm bailout package of 2018.

KY...........

[yonder]

34. Thanks for this.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

38. Where's the f'n last straw to break the camel's back?

There is always more.

[BusyBeingBest]

5. The healthy and the recovered/post-quarantined can

go to work, all with masks and gloves, of course. The actively ill and newly-testing positive folks must stay home for at least two weeks, and they're just going to have to keep swapping these people in and out. This is how it's going to have to be, for pretty much everyone in the work force, in every industry. My husband's employer has crews staying home now on standby, to swap out with crews or individuals that test positive or fall ill. This is how it will go for everyone in a couple months to allow most businesses and industries and schools to reopen, I predict.

[LovingA2andMI]

9. How can that really be determined?

Healthy People that is with a test with a 30-35% False Positive rate depending on viral load?

We are all flying by the seat of our pants here with a psychopath in the White House.

Again, is America tired of the Trump Show yet?

[BusyBeingBest]

15. They're just going to have to do their best, unfortunately.

If I were an employer, I would at least demand all employees get tested, both for the disease and for antibodies when that is available, and manage the workforce accordingly, albeit at reduced capacity for production or services. There's really no other way--we're flying blind without testing.

[LovingA2andMI]

19. Agree....

We are flying blind and that is the worse way to ever fly a plane -- or in this case, a virus that has plane like trajectory to invade the human body.

[still_one]

27. False Positive? I have heard false negative but not false positive

[Igel]

44. There's always an error rate.

PCR tests, from what I've heard (and I'm certainly not an expert) have a low false positive rate, but they happen. They have a much higher false negative rate.

Ideal would be 0 for both.

For containment purposes, that false negative's a killer. You can't contain when 30-35% of those you need to quarantine go walking. And it's worse when 30% of those infected don't ever show symptoms. Time spent on attempting containment is time spent letting people get infected and die. And after stay-at-home is over, they can't just rely on traditional contact tracing. People need hope, of course, whether it's universal testing, salvation through contact tracing, or believing that everything'll be back to normal after Easter, but none of them are happening. Serological immunoassays are the way it'll have to go, and that'll be long and painful. Until there's a vaccine. An antiviral will help, but let's not get carried away--that's symptom mitigation and shortening.

For efficient resource utilization, that low false positive is a good thing. If a person tests positive, they have it almost for sure and you treat them accordingly--without wasting energy on a bunch of people who don't test positive. Less worry about confining a bunch of uninfected people with the infected in some sort of Chinese-style quasi-hospital detention facility.

[still_one]

46. Ok, I just heard the 30% number was false negatives. Not sure how accurate any of these estimates

are

[ucrdem]

6. JBS SA is a Brazilian company.

Just another dark side of the All-American meal.



to Eric Schlosser

[Baclava]

8. It spreads through the respiratory system, not eating it, stay away from meat workers!

[LovingA2andMI]

10. True BUT....

Are the meat workers consistently wearing gloves when handling meat products? What about face coverings? If not, the meat is wrapped in PLASTIC and FOAM -- two things the virus can live it for a limited amount of time.

The question is what is the time frame the meat leaves the plant and ends up at t grocery store near anyone to purchase?

[Baclava]

13. Its not bacteria, it doesnt grow in food. Wash your hands after making hamburgers.

Or handling any store bought food packages I guess. This stuff about "oh noes, our food is poisoned now" shit isnt helping

[LovingA2andMI]

14. Yes but AGAIN....

The meat is wrapped in Plastic and Form or Paper. The Virus can live for a limited amount of time on ALL THREE plus the virus is capable of floating in the air for a limited amount of time.

So again, are Meat Workers wearing gloves and masks when processing our nation meat supply? It appears, no, not so far.

[Baclava]

18. So handle like any store bought package, who's to say the guy stocking soup cans isnt infected?

[LovingA2andMI]

20. True....

Which leads to the point. There is no real protection against exposure to COVID-19. One can try to lengthen the time to have an exposure but likely and exposure is going to happen sometime, somewhere in the course of humans, being human.

[Baclava]

24. Less trips to grocery stores, less food consumed, coronavirus saving us from obesity!

[LovingA2andMI]

25. Okay....

along with Salvation for many and that is not Okay.

[gab13by13]

35. Yeah well said

I saw a quote, maybe here, I think it was Herbert Hoover of all people. The gist of the quote was, in the long run this will all be over, but people need to eat every day.

[littlemissmartypants]

39. kentuck's post here...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213267557

[still_one]

28. I don't eat meat, but one would assume cooking would destroy any virus in the meat

[Baclava]

30. A virus needs a living host cell to spread, inhaled into your body, not from dead meat

[still_one]

32. I realize that, but heat will destroy the RNA bonds

[Liberal In Texas]

16. Cook your food, wash your hands.

Experts say that cooking your food to the same temperatures required to kill pathogens that cause foodborne illness is likely to also kill the coronavirus that can cause COVID-19. That’s 145° F for fresh pork, beef roasts, steaks, chops, and fish; 160° F for egg dishes and beef; and 165° F for poultry, ground beef, casseroles, and leftovers, and to reheat precooked ham.

Here’s the good news: “The science around coronavirus continues to unfold, but there is currently no evidence that the disease is transmitted by food,” says Donald Schaffner, Ph.D., a distinguished professor in the department of food science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.

That’s because it’s a respiratory virus, passed primarily from person to person in droplets when someone who is infected coughs or sneezes. Though it’s possible to pick up the virus by touching a surface where the droplets have landed and then touching your eyes, nose, or mouth, that’s not the primary way it is thought to spread...

Wash your hands before and after preparing food—and during if you are handling raw meat, poultry, seafood, or eggs—as well as before you eat. Wash fruits and vegetables. Don’t eat raw dough or batter (E. coli is sometimes found in flour). In addition, be sure to prevent cross-contamination by keeping raw meat separate from other foods, using separate cutting boards for meat and vegetables, and using a food thermometer to ensure safe cooking temperatures. You should also refrigerate perishable foods and leftovers promptly.

https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/coronavirus-common-questions-about-the-food-you-eat-food-safety/

[LovingA2andMI]

21. Right....

But you do have to unwrap the food. Many times one seasons the food. Are they bleaching their sink before/after or not at all during this process? What about the paper Inside and Outside, the food came in? How is that being handled as most people do NOT wash the inside Plastic and Foam or paper the food came in. What did they touch after taking the meat out of its packaging?

The end result is, nearly everyone will get this virus. The key is what could be done to BUILT the immune system before doing so, to combat its effects.

[Liberal In Texas]

42. It's not rocket science.

Remove the meat or other food and discard the wrapping. Wash your hands. Cook the meat. Wash your hands again and any surface you may have touched or placed the food.

I want a vaccine, not gamble that I might survive contracting the thing and maybe get immunity.

[LovingA2andMI]

47. Easier said than done....

When you don't have materials to do washing because one has not had a check in 4 weeks and live from week to week on a paycheck.
Not our personal situation at the moment however, there are many in this boat we have no idea about.

Sympathy goes a long way.....

[Liberal In Texas]

48. I guess if you can't get food and don't have access to soap and water...

...you're in a whole added area of being screwed. My posts were mostly for people who have soap and water and who do food preperation. How the virus probably isn't on raw food and cooking destroys it if somehow it is.

[Politicub]

22. I went out for groceries on Tuesday and it felt eerie in the store

The shelves were looking bare and some were covered with tarps because there was nothing to fill them. There was an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, and I guess I was there shortly after the meat shipment arrived because I was finally able to buy some chicken breasts. The fresh dairy products were well-stocked. Frozen food was nearly gone except for ice cream and endless bags of peas and diced carrots.

I thought to myself that other people are seeing this, too, and it became clear what may make people riot for food. We hear that the trucks are running and our food supply isn't something to worry about; I believed that until this week. I hope I am wrong and it was just a fluke.

I wish I had paid more attention to my great grandmother when she canned and froze vegetables and fruit from her garden. That would be a useful skill to have since fresh foods have a short shelf life except meat that can be frozen.

Meat workers have such a brutal and hard job. It must be very stressful on the best of days. I think we should take the best care of people on the front lines and divert the big-business bail-out money to them and their families.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

23. Union calls for Greeley JBS plant to be closed by the state - Denver Post

After second death, union calls for closure of Greeley meat-packing plant
“With each passing day, more employees’ lives are at risk”
By Justin Wingerter | [e-mail] | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: April 10, 2020 at 4:23 p.m.

Link: https://www.denverpost.com/2020/04/10/greeley-meat-plant-jbs-coronavirus/

A labor union representing 3,000 employees at the JBS meat-packing plant in Greeley has urged Gov. Jared Polis to close the facility following the coronavirus-related death of a second worker there. The death of Conchas de la Cruz, 60, from coronavirus was announced Friday by United Food & Commercial Workers Local 7. A 78-year-old employee, Saul Sanchez, died earlier in the week from the virus.

“One death is a tragedy — two deaths at the same plant is simply beyond human understanding,” wrote Kim Cordova, the Local 7 president, in a letter to Polis and Weld County health officials. “With regret, we have no option but to conclude that the time for collaborative efforts has ceased. JBS has left us with no alternative.”

A JBS spokesman said the plant will be closed for a three-day holiday weekend, as scheduled, plus Tuesday to ensure employees can be tested. The company says it is spending $1 million on coronavirus testing for its 6,000 employees.
++++++
Cordova says she knows of 42 union members, as well as eight non-union JBS employees, who have tested positive for COVID-19. Five of them are hospitalized. “Local 7 believes there may be significantly more individuals at the plant who are carrying the virus but may either be asymptomatic, not tested, or afraid to come forward as they are not eligible for sick pay,” she wrote to Polis.

We hope these employees get some relief soon.

Cook that meat from the store very thoroughly, folks.

[mucifer]

26. As a vegan I have to say, I am sure farm workers with veggies and grains will get it too

I don't think it has to do with working in huge slaughterhouses and meat packing places is what causes the spread. It's about the government loosening regulations. I doubt the minimum wage farm workers are staying 6 feet apart with masks.

[SummerSnow]

29. Trump deregulated the meat industry, less inspectors and standards.

[MineralMan]

31. The South Dakota plant is owned by Smithfield, which is Chinese-owned.

It used to be owned by a North Carolina company, but it was bought out by a Chinese firm some time ago.

In Sioux Falls, where the plant is located, many of its employees are Nepalese, while others are Hispanic. I don't know how well they're paid or what their immigration status is.

[bucolic_frolic]

36. Hamberders we love you

[Bernardo de La Paz]

37. Wipe any packaged meat with disinfectant & leave out in a not-cold area for an hour before fridging

The virus lives much longer in refrigeration and up to two years in freezer.

This video is good and makes excellent sense to me:

Handling groceries and food deliveries safely

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213235344

[SleeplessinSoCal]

40. It's been "survival of the fittest" for a long time.

FDR and Obama were just apparitions. Dead Man Walking Limbaugh wins. Al Franken loses. The NRA wins.

We are the the United States of America, divided we fall. And President Ass-for-Brains and his giddy idiots have driven a stake through us. Pitted us against each other to boot.

Only comfort is what I heard Ian Bremmer say on Maher last night. The cities and state governments may protect us from total authoritarianism. But for how many of us? And can we just get him for criminal negligence? Please???

[bronxiteforever]

41. Kick and recommend for visibility

[BComplex]

43. This is very unsettling. Some people don't cook their meat that well.

And those handling it at the plants are infected with the virus? That can't be good for the handlers, their coworkers, or the general public.

[fescuerescue]

45. Right now shortages are because of demand.

But as this virus spreads, shortages will occur because of supply chain disruption.

Wave #2 of shortages will be far worse than wave #1.