Nearly half of the existing Covid-19 hotspots in the U.S. are connected to meat processing plants where poultry, pigs, and cattle are slaughtered and packed, resulting in the spiking of the virus in many small towns and triggering immediate changes to an industry beset by health and safety issues. Meat processing plants tend to have emerged as an incubator for corona-virus, which has rapidly spread among workers unable to conduct physical distances.
The working environment in meat production factories makes it difficult for employees to maintain physical distance, especially if they work on production lines. The work rate and physical demands of factory work also make it difficult for employees to wear face coverings, with CDC observers noticing that employees tended to cover just their mouths, not their noses, and often readjusted their masks which makes the environment ideal incubator for corona-virus. Many other factors such as lingual difference which makes it difficult to communicate information, low-living conditions of employees, traveling in crowded buses or car shares, fear of not having medical insurance or backup by government add to the cluster spreading of the virus.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, even before the pandemic, the meat production and slaughterhouse industry were strewn with “serious safety and health hazards” including dangerous equipment, musculoskeletal disorders, and hazardous chemicals. The tight-packed working conditions and cold damp areas with minimal regard to social distancing measures, absence of ventilation, and sunlight make it perfect for the virus to linger, spread, and become an incubator for corona-virus.
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) last month, an estimated 5,000 people working in meat-processing plants have tested positive for coronavirus in the US and one analysis estimates that half of the disease cases in the US can be traced back to these production facilities. Given the conditions of the workers and the risk they can put to the overall pandemic, there is a need to implement the necessary measures to curb the dangerous spreading of coronavirus in meat production factories.
