The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an updated report on the spread of Covid-19 among food manufacturing and agricultural workers on Monday, revealing thousands of previously unreported cases and reiterating the disproportionate impact that the virus has had on workers of color.
The report tallied workplace outbreaks, cases, and deaths by sector in 33 states between March 1 and May 31. In that time, states reported over 37,000 cases and 187 deaths among workers at food processing facilities, meatpacking plants, and on farms. Due to the study’s constraints, those figures represent only about half of the cases and deaths that FERN has counted since the pandemic began: as of October 20, over 71,000 workers have contracted Covid-19 and at least 321 have died. The CDC report contributed over 5,800 cases, 52 deaths, and 340 outbreaks that had previously not been included in FERN’s dataset.
Researchers found that 83 percent of Covid-19 cases in these sectors were contracted by workers of ethnic and racial minorities, despite comprising just 47 percent of the sectors’ workforces. “Our study supports findings from prior reports that part of the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 among some racial and ethnic minority groups is likely related to occupational risk,” they wrote. “These findings should be considered when implementing workplace interventions to ensure communication and training are culturally and linguistically tailored for each workforce.”
The report also called for “comprehensive testing strategies, coupled with contact tracing and symptom screening, for high-density critical infrastructure workplaces.” While over 80 of workers in this data sample were symptomatic upon being tested, “not all workplaces performed mass testing; therefore, workers with asymptomatic or presymptomatic infections might have been missed.”
The full report can be found here.