It’s not only in the US that meat processing plants and abattoirs are hot spots. One of the places in Australia that flared up was a meatworks, and this in a country where community transmission was generally measuring [until a week ago] at less than a dozen cases per day.
Is it something specific in the nature of the work or the operating environment that causes increased likelihood of transmission? I understand in the US these are places using poorly paid, possibly illegal migrant or non-unionised labour that may be unwilling to rail against unsafe work practices, but I do not think that applies in the same way here.
I’m also aware of the Defense Production Act being used to indemnify meatworks owners and maintain production, which would not help, but does not explain why the transmission issue is so closely associated with them.
My understanding of the situation in the US is that meatpacking plants generally are staffed by low income people, who work in tight quarters with lots and lots of the same. There are socio economic aspects to the spread of the virus. For example, low income workers might rely on public transportation or carpooling. Travel in some form during a “quarrantine”.
Meatpacking employees ain’t working from home in their slippers.
In my experience, there’s also a reluctance to do anything that would reduce capacity in any way, citing that food production is essential.
You’d think that would mean they’d invest a lot more into separating people-getting them face guards, protective suits, partitions, air filters, etc. But I’ve not heard of any doing anything like that.
Hearing protection, limited vocabulary, and strong accents made communication difficult pre-Covid. Several areas I work are lips-to-ear speaking range. Now add masks or face shields. You really can’t effectively shout with a face shield on. They get moved aside just to pass on work instructions.
My son’s plant had most of the early cases spread in the employer sponsored ride shuttles. Most of the cases at my work are family and ride shares also.
It’s not just meat packing plants; other food processing plants suffer too. Here in the Northwest, we don’t have the big ones they have in the Midwest, but we do have other food processing plants. There’ve been several outbreaks at them. The conditions are probably fairly similar, especially in seafood processing plants, where we had an outbreak.
There’s also been outbreaks in vegetable and fruit processing plants.
Same issue in the UK, several outbreaks at food processing plants.
I have a friend who has worked in the places and told me something of what goes on.
While some factories are reputable, the price competition in the food processing market is intense and corners are cut to make a profit. The workers at these plants often live in poor, overcrowded accommodation. Bunk beds in dorms or trailers. They are bused in each day early in the morning. The pay is meagre and the hours are long. Employers and the agents involved make big deductions for rent and transport to keep the pay above the minimum wage threshold. The workers may come from many different countries and have a poor command of English. They are part of the army of workers who live below the radar and do the difficult, unpleasant jobs that few others are prepared to do.
I guess this is the hidden cost of all those cheap takeaway food shops and cut price supermarket bargains.
Coronavirus is revealing some unpalateble truths about the things we take for granted and I guess this is one of them.