Virus Makes A Hard Job Perilous
April 20, 2020 5:27AM CDT
TIJUANA, MEXICO – NOVEMBER 28: Workers wearing masks and gloves direct migrants entering a temporary shelter set up for members of the ‘migrant caravan’ on November 28, 2018 in Tijuana, Mexico. Many shelter residents complain of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at the shelter which stands within sight of the U.S.-Mexico border. Some migrants will be reportedly moved to a new shelter soon and other have set up tents outside the shelter gates. Around 6,000 migrants from Central America have arrived in the city with the mayor of Tijuana declaring the situation a ‘humanitarian crisis’. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A cluster of coronavirus cases at a South Dakota pork plant has highlighted the susceptibility of meat processing workers, who stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the line and congregate in crowded spaces. The Smithfield Foods plant has reported 518 infections in employees and another 126 in people connected to them. Because the workers who slaughter and pack the nation’s meat are vulnerable, so, too, is the supply of that meat. Union leaders wish more had been done sooner at the Smithfield plant. The company says difficulty in getting masks and thermal scanners led to delays in implementing safety measures. But it added hand-sanitizing stations and was scanning employee temperatures before the plant closed.
