Florida, North Carolina and Washington preview further spread as harvest season advances.
Coronavirus outbreaks among farm workers are popping up in rural communities across the country, sparking fears within the agriculture industry that cases will skyrocket as harvest season stretches into summer.
In the coming weeks, more crews will be sent into fields to pick, pack and ship ripening crops. About a quarter of the 2.5 million-person workforce follows the harvest into other regions, bringing concerns that migratory workers could spread the disease to more farms and states.
Like meatpacking plant employees, farm workers have been deemed essential for their role in the nation’s food supply. But the federal government has not made safety rules mandatory, leaving it to farmers’ discretion whether to enact any safety measures at all.
Advocates for the low-income, mostly immigrant workforce say not enough farming operations have taken steps to protect workers, warning that pickers of the nation’s fruits and vegetables could trigger Covid-19 contagions in new places just as they are reopening their economies.
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Farm industry groups insist they are capable of keeping workers safe, noting that many farms have rebuilt workers’ housing to provide more separation among sleeping laborers. Many have also added hand-washing stations and mask requirements.
But evidence around the country indicates that those efforts have been sporadic and may not be sufficient to prevent outbreaks.
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Coronavirus outbreaks among farm workers are popping up in rural communities across the country, sparking fears within the agriculture industry that cases will skyrocket as harvest season stretches into summerhttps://t.co/2T1ikWZg2H
— POLITICO (@politico) June 10, 2020
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