TY - JOUR
T1 - Invisible No More
T2 - The Impact of COVID-19 on Essential Food Production Workers
AU - Ramos, Athena K.
AU - Lowe, Abigail E.
AU - Herstein, Jocelyn J.
AU - Schwedhelm, Shelly
AU - Dineen, Kelly K.
AU - Lowe, John J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The lead author’s time was partially supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) grant number U54 OH010162 through the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety & Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - From the farms to the packing plants, essential workers in critical food production industries keep food on our tables while risking their and their families’ health and well-being to bring home a paycheck. They work in essential industries but are often invisible. The disparities illuminated by COVID-19 are not new. Instead, they are the result of years of inequities built into practices, policies, and systems that reinforce societal power structures. As a society, we are now at an antagonizing moment where we can change our collective trajectory to focus forward and promote equity and justice for workers in agriculture and food-related industries. To that end, we describe our experience and approach in addressing COVID-19 outbreaks in meat processing facilities, which included three pillars of action based on public health ethics and international human rights: (1) worksite prevention and control, (2) community-based prevention and control, and (3) treatment. Our approach can be translated to promote the health, safety, and well-being of the broader agricultural workforce.
AB - From the farms to the packing plants, essential workers in critical food production industries keep food on our tables while risking their and their families’ health and well-being to bring home a paycheck. They work in essential industries but are often invisible. The disparities illuminated by COVID-19 are not new. Instead, they are the result of years of inequities built into practices, policies, and systems that reinforce societal power structures. As a society, we are now at an antagonizing moment where we can change our collective trajectory to focus forward and promote equity and justice for workers in agriculture and food-related industries. To that end, we describe our experience and approach in addressing COVID-19 outbreaks in meat processing facilities, which included three pillars of action based on public health ethics and international human rights: (1) worksite prevention and control, (2) community-based prevention and control, and (3) treatment. Our approach can be translated to promote the health, safety, and well-being of the broader agricultural workforce.
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U2 - 10.1080/1059924X.2020.1814925
DO - 10.1080/1059924X.2020.1814925
M3 - Article
C2 - 32945241
AN - SCOPUS:85091076531
VL - 25
SP - 378
EP - 382
JO - Journal of Agromedicine
JF - Journal of Agromedicine
SN - 1059-924X
IS - 4
ER -