Latino employees at meat and chicken processing plants have been the hardest hit by coronavirus, representing 56 percent of cases reported in plants in 21 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
The current CDC information, published Tuesday, reinforces alarms raised as meat and chicken centers and their surrounding neighborhoods have actually become COVID-19 hot spots and deaths among employees have actually installed this year.
In overall, almost 9 in 10 coronavirus cases (87 percent) were amongst racial and ethnic minority employees, with 5,584 cases taking place in Latinos through Might31 Another 1,842, or 19 percent, of cases happened in non-Hispanic Black workers; 1,332, or 13 percent, in non-Hispanic whites; and 1,161, or 12 percent, in Asians.
In the last a number of months, the deaths of Latino workers at meat processing plants have put a stark focus on the security of employees and the vulnerability of the country’s food supply.
A union of food worker, civil and human rights advocates submitted a civil liberties problem Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Agriculture versus Tyson Foods Inc. and JBS USA, asking for a suspension of federal funds for the business and referral of the problem to the Justice Department.
The grievance stated that “for the purpose of optimizing revenues and processing capacity, these business deal with plant flooring workers as sacrificial,” and said the companies have gotten over $150 million dollars this year in taxpayer money.
Tyson and JBS did not react to NBC News requests for remark by the end of business day Wednesday.
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In General, there have been at least 17,358 coronavirus cases and 91 COVID-19- related deaths at meat and poultry facilities in 23 specifies reporting outbreaks through Might 30, the CDC said.
However the seriousness of the effect of COVID-19 on meat and poultry plant workers ma