Commentary: Outbreak among farm workers would be catastrophe
By Francis Wilkinson / Bloomberg Opinion
There is no evidence that Covid-19 has been transmitted by food or food packaging, according to U.S. federal health agencies. How the virus fares among food workers may be a different story.
By law, food manufacturers must prevent anyone who is sick or has a communicable disease from handling, processing or preparing food for human consumption. But much of the food supply chain is staffed by low-wage workers, many of them undocumented immigrants with limited ties to health services.
The Pew Research Center has estimated that about one quarter of U.S. farm workers are undocumented. A U.S. Department of Labor survey estimated that the share of field workers who are undocumented is closer to half. The food processing industry also has high numbers of undocumented workers, as do many of the nation’s smaller grocers and fast-food restaurants.
Immigrant farming communities are often close-knit, with laborers living and working in close proximity. As the California-based Western Growers Association states, “Social distancing is difficult or perhaps impossible in certain settings such as harvesting, transport (of workers) and housing.” One California grower told National Public Radio that if the coronavirus penetrates the agricultural community, “it will spread like wildfire.”
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