Los Angeles – At least 138 employees at a meat-processing plant tested positive for coronavirus, a supervisor from Kings County, central California, where many Latinos live and work, said Thursday.
According to Supervisor Doug Verboon of Kings County, told Efe this Thursday, the cases in the Central Valley Meat company represent “about two thirds of the total of 211 cases of contagion of coronavirus reported in the county.”
Those affected reside in King, Tulare and Fresno counties, and yet the plant with a total of 900 employees and located in Hanford continues to operate.
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Relatives of the victims – such as the daughter of a Latino operator who became ill and infected his wife – complain about the lack of preventive measures.
As reported by the Fresno Bee newspaper, Krystal Hernández, the daughter of one of the infected employees, complained that her father had to continue working despite the fact that there were “amounts of people coughing, running and sweating at the plant.”
The first cases of contagion at the Central Valley Meat facilities were reported “more than a week ago,” as reported by the Fresno Bee yesterday.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) noted that 97 of those infected at the meat processing plant reside in Kings County, 30 in Tulare County and 11 in Fresno County.
In a statement offered in late April when the first cases of contagion were detected, the company said that the workers had been identified in a previous examination before starting their work shifts and that they had been ordered to comply with the respective quarantine.
“The company has been following the guidelines of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and has initiated multiple other processes and procedures to offer the greatest possible security measures to our employees,” the company said in a statement obtained today for Efe.
Some unidentified workers have asked – through the media such as the ABC chain – that the company close the operation of the plant.
According to the most recent data provided by CDPH, as of May 5 in California, 60,614 cases of COVID-19 and 2,412 deaths had been reported.
“Among adults 18 and older, Latinos, African Americans, and natives of the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands are dying at disproportionately higher levels,” the state entity reported.
Latinos, who make up 38.9% of California’s population, represent 49.4% of contagion cases (20,030) and 35.4% of deaths (819).
