Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/1/20

As meatpacking plants across the country resume operations after coronavirus outbreaks in their facilities, plant workers are wary of returning to hot-spots of infection as the number of Covid-related deaths continues to rise, writes Pro Ag’s Liz Crampton this a.m.

“A lot of people are legitimately scared right now,” said Dennis Medbourn, an employee at a Tyson hog processing plant in Indiana. Medbourn tested positive for coronavirus at the end of April, one of nearly 900 cases at the slaughterhouse. The Tyson plant shut down for two weeks before reopening in May.

It’s one of the many meat processing facilities coming back online following President Donald Trump’s executive order in April to bolster the food supply. USDA’s latest figures show that meat production is now bouncing back to nearly last year’s levels.

But Trump’s order didn’t spell out specific protections for employees. More than 3,000 meatpacking workers have already tested positive for Covid-19, and at least 44 have died, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

Major meat processors like Tyson and JBS say they’re installing plexiglass barriers, hand sanitizing stations, temperature checks and other precautions, while federal agencies have provided millions of face masks to grocery and meatpacking workers, according to a USDA spokesperson.

Still, those measures don’t fully mitigate the risk to workers, most of whom are low-income immigrants or refugees, leaving many to choose between risking their lives or losing their jobs. And the government’s safety recommendations aren’t mandatory, meaning precautions vary from plant to plant depending on local management.