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Another worker at the U.S. poultry company Foster Farms died of complications from COVID-19 over the weekend, making him the 12th employee of the California company to die after contracting the coronavirus.
According to Los Angeles Times, the worker’s family declared the employee, who was of Punjabi descent and in his 50s, worked at Foster Farms’ Cherry Avenue factory in Fresno, California.
After being diagnosed with COVID-19, the man spent the last three weeks in the intensive care unit of a local hospital before passing away, according to Deep Singh, executive director of the Jakara Movement, a non-profit organization. lucrative for the youth and family of the Central Valley who work with the Punjabi. Sikh community.
Singh told The Times that the worker’s family believed he contracted the virus at work because he avoided leaving his home other than to go to the factory or for other essential reasons.
The man is the third worker at the Fresno plant to die from COVID-19, with nine more coronavirus-related deaths linked to the Livingston, Calif., Plant of Foster Farms.
According to Foster Farms, at least 193 people at the Fresno plant have tested positive for COVID-19, or about 20% of its workers.
Singh said the poultry company should have done more to protect its staff, accusing the company of a “senseless lack of concerns and protections that put the safety of workers and their families first.”
The company has also been criticized for poor communication with its employees, giving instructions in English, even though many company employees have limited fluency in the language.
Foster Farms had already come under close scrutiny for its handling of the pandemic, with community leaders telling The Times that the company has asked its employees to work overtime amid the pandemic.
A few days before Christmas, a Merced County judge granted a temporary restraining order sought by the United Farm Workers of America against Foster Farms.
The order demanded that Foster Farms provide workers at its Livingston factory with face masks and required workers to wear them when social distancing is not possible, The Associated Press reported.
The ordinance also required the company to do temperature and health examinations for workers and visitors before they entered the factory, as well as physical dividers in break rooms and along lines. of production.
Responding to the most recent death, Foster Farms said in a statement to The Hill: “We are saddened by the passing of our Cherry Street factory and, out of respect for family and loved ones, we cannot provide more. details.
“Our positivity rate at the plant since mid-December continues to decline,” the company added in a statement. “By testing all employees twice a week, we are now at a positivity rate of less than 1%. This compares to a positivity rate in Fresno County of over 10%. “
Hospitality farms had temporarily closed its factory in Livingston early September following an outbreak that led to nearly 400 coronavirus infections and accounted for eight deaths.
An outbreak two weeks ago at the Fresno plant also caused its temporary shutdown, though it later reopened, the AP reported.
—Updated at 9:06 p.m.
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