Gov. Tate Reeves wisely took a cautious approach to re-opening Mississippi’s economy last week. He replaced his shelter-in-place edict with a safer-at-home order, good through May 11. The order was not as cautious as the guidelines issued by President Donald Trump, but was far from the open-everything-up notion some protestors want.
Reeves appears to be heeding his top health advisor, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs. "This thing is not over,” Dobbs said. “We need to continue to be careful.”
While, Reeve’s order calls for continued social distancing and no group gatherings of more than 10 people, he did open up operations for many businesses. He provides guidelines to open up retail businesses while continuing to restrict operations for restaurants and prohibit operations at bars, gyms, clubs, tattoo parlors, and more. He provides guidelines for health care professionals and facilities and for nursing homes.
Surprisingly, the order included no specific mention of manufacturing operations, particularly meat-processing plants. The latter became a distinct issue last week when Trump used his authority under the Defense Production Act to order meat-processing plants to stay open.
"It is important that processors of beef, pork, and poultry (‘meat and poultry’) in the food supply chain continue operating and fulfilling orders to ensure a continued supply of protein for Americans,” the order stated.
Trump’s order followed operation shutdowns at 20 slaughterhouses and processing plants across the country, including plants operated by industry titans Smithfield Foods and Tyson. Meat-processing facilities can easily become hot spots because many workers stand elbow to elbow for long hours. Indeed, the virus risk at some plants is far greater than that at gyms and bars.
Some processors have implemented CDC safety guidelines, placing plastic shields between workers, strengthening sanitizing procedures, providing masks and protective gear to workers, and sending symptomatic workers home with pay.
The CDC guidelines are voluntary, however, even though the President’s order for processing plants to operate is mandatory. OSHA has so far dodged issuing enforceable safety measures related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Given the importance of poultry and meat-processing plants to the state’s economy, it was notable for this key industry sector to be missing from Reeves’ order.
Little has been made public about the incidence of the virus and steps to protect workers at Mississippi’s poultry and meat processing facilities. Several national stories mention Mississippi but provide no specifics on Mississippi. A Clarion-Ledger story Friday quoted union sources saying there had been 65 cases with 42 at one plant and the rest among five other poultry plants.
There were rumors out of the White House that the President’s order would include a provision for the federal government to provide protective gear and supplies to meat-processing plants to help them operate safely, but it did not.
What does appear to be forthcoming, instead, are provisions (both state and federal) to limit companies’ liability from potential lawsuits filed by workers infected by the coronavirus. In the case of high risk meat-processing plants that fail to fully implement the CDC’s recommended safety measures that would be criminal.
If the federal government is not going to safeguard these workers, Mississippi leaders should.
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” – Philippians 2:4.
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Bill Crawford:Mississippi Should Safeguard Meat-Processing Plant Workers
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14 comments:
Scott and Leake counties have some of the highest per capita confirmed infection rates in the state. That has to be tied to the poultry industry. No workplace is going to be 100% safe. There are precautions that need to be taken to inhibit infections in the plants, but you also have to consider a lot of workers are still either illegal immigrants or are family of illegals with very tight living conditions at home. The spread is not necessarily happening at the plants.
Man, is opening schools in the fall going to be a shit show. No way you have students, teachers, and support staff in large numbers without an increase in cases. If there is this much attention given to a few thousand cases in one industry imagine how it will be when you have half a million cases tied to educational institutions. We can’t forego a year of education so all we can do is minimize the risk knowing the solution won’t be perfect.
The Clarion-Ledger story was a mishmash of incorrect information. First, the Tyson plant in Carthage is not your typical plant producing birds for grocery stores. The plant is highly mechanized and produces birds for Walmart delis, Churches, KFC, Chik-Fil-a and others. The workers are well-treated, all legal and a very high percentage of whites. Many are classified as "machine operators," as they operate specialized and complex machinery. Th plant provides great benefits, bonuses and regularly hands out large boxes of its product to workers. There is no shortage of workers. But they don't hire everybody. The recruitment process is demanding.
The C-L story tried to link the plants to the high outbreaks in Leake county, but the mayor of carthage, who is is African-American, first imposed a curfew, then a $300 fine for gathering, and pegged the problem on the African-American youth and young people having round-the clock parties and wandering the streets despite the curfew. Police have been instructed to crack down and are doing so. The mayor also noted an increased number of fights which she said could lead to gunplay, which is starting to happen. Don't blame this on the chicken plant. The problem is obvious, but nobody except the mayor is willing to tell itlike it is for fear of being branded racist.
C_L took a cheap shot.
@11:23, you're right about schools in the fall. It will be an absolute shit show. We need to be prepared to at least begin the 2020-21 school year via distance learning. Many states will, I believe, do this. I will be surprised, though, if Mississippi does, as the fools clamoring to reopen everything would pop a gasket. I don't believe we have a leader in this state with the balls to do what's right in the face of an angry mob.
I am a teacher and will not return to school in the fall if proper precautions are not implemented, including reduced class size to accommodate proper social distancing, daily deep cleaning of school facilities, and a requirement that everyone wear masks in the school. I am at-risk and have family members who are as well. And let's not forget the sizable portion our student population whos live with older and/or ill relatives who should not be exposed.
A shit show is an understatement.
@12:25 p.m. — We see you're not in fear of being branded as exactly what you are.
@1:32 I feel for you. My wife is a counselor and has immune issues. She’s a couple of years from 25 years to retire so she won’t have much choice in returning. I predict quite a few teachers who are 55 and older will retire if there isn’t a reasonable safety plan in place.
We have beef processing plants in Mississippi? Crawford carefully works around the edges of reminding us of the thousands of illegals working in processing chickens and pigs. And those are among the highest infection rates. Meanwhile, hundreds of their compadres continue to ease across the border to join the employment ranks in Scott, Leake and Rankin counties. And they continue to suck at the tit of every emergency room in the South.
Carthage Chicken Plant....All Legal....Bull Shit!
@11:23. Yes, it will be a "shit show" later on. This is why we need to open the economy back up now. People naturally stay 6 ft apart when they are out and about. When was the last time you were in the park and walked up to a complete stranger and hugged them? Or that happened in a Kroger? Let people go out and about during summer time while they are still thinking about slowing the spread and social distancing. The summer heat will help them fight it off and they will develop the anti-bodies that will help them fight off future infections.
Or, we can wait until it gets cold and we are all hanging out inside, closed in, next to each other.... and have our second wave then.
Legal or illegal is irrelevant.
40 plus plant workers share a one bed room/one bath studio apartment and they're blaming the chicken plant ?
Laughing my ass off.
to 4:03.........''beef plants''?...... why....yes .! mississippi had one particular beef plant that became very well known it was back about 2001. in fact it was owned by the state, or rather the taxpayers , courtesy of the legislature. remember that?
you see it goes like this..........2001 was the hight of the atkins diet craze .the atkins diet said to pack your face 3 times a day with steak. remember that?
certain legislators , after packing their face full of steak each night up at ticos, courtesy of the lobbyists, decided mississippi needed to go into the beef business.
and presto, change-o, they bought a beef plant. remember that?
12 months , 10 million dollars , and several prison sentences later ,we had not yet seen the first t-bone.
remember that?
dont you just love mississippi history?
To 1:34 p.m.: Mississippi is about 37% black, yet black people comprise about 52% of C-19 cases. Can you please explain why that is, if it isn't behavioral?
@4:03 p.m. — That the workers at the chicken processing plants are Hispanic is immaterial. If white or black Mississippians were working those jobs on the line, their rates of COVID-19 would be just as high. It's not their heritage that makes them susceptible to the virus; it's the fact that on a processing line they are working feet to inches from each other. Take your racist bullshit somewhere else.
No, 3:44, you are not correct. Their race is not immaterial. The facts you overlook are these: 95% of them are illegal. They are living in close quarters with unrelated others. They do not pay any attention to social distancing or the use of PPE (unless mandated at the plant which still harbors them in close quarters).
They're living in fear every day of their lives, which causes them emotional distress and results in cowering in close quarters with unrelated others, moving about somewhat silently in packs, living in apartments and trailers with as many as ten to twelve others, even more.
Another contributor said this: "Legal or illegal is irrelevant.
40 plus plant workers share a one bed room/one bath studio apartment and they're blaming the chicken plant?"
Well, no. It's not the fault of the chicken plant, but it IS the known outcome of 'life at the chicken plant' for the reasons I gave you above. And, no, 40 of them are not living in a one bedroom apartment - But fifteen of them are.
We have recruited, accepted and come to embrace this sub-culture that we created. And then there are those like you two who seem to dismiss its relevance and downside.
Do a lot of black folks work in those plants? If so, might that at least partially explain the disproportionate C-19 infection rates among black people in Mississippi?
-9:49 p.m.
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