Coronavirus cuts ‘deep scars’ through meatpacking cities

1 of 9
In this Friday, May 1, 2020, photo, a worker leaves the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo, Iowa. The coronavirus is devastating the nation’s meatpacking communities — places like Waterloo and Sioux City in Iowa, Grand Island, Neb., and Worthington, Minn. Within weeks, the outbreaks around slaughterhouses have turned into full-scale disasters. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — As the coronavirus spread from the nation’s meatpacking plants to the broader communities where they are located, it burned through a modest duplex in Waterloo, Iowa.

In the downstairs unit lived Jim Orvis, 65, a beloved friend and uncle who worked in the laundry department at the Tyson Foods pork processing facility, the largest employer in Waterloo. Upstairs was Arthur Scott, a 51-year-old father who was getting his life back on track after a prison term for drugs. He worked 25 miles (40.23 kilometers) away at the Tyson dog treats factory in Independence, Iowa.

The two men were not well acquainted. But both fell ill and died last month within days of each other from COVID-19 — casualties of an outbreak linked to the Waterloo plant that spread across the city of 68,000 people. Similar spread is happening in other communities where the economy centers around raising hogs and cattle and processing their meat, including the hot spots of Grand Island, Nebraska, and Worthington, Minnesota.

The virus is “devastating everything,” said duplex owner Jose Garcia, who received notification two days apart from his deceased tenants’ relatives. “These two guys were here last week. Now they are gone. It’s crazy.”

He said it’s possible one of the men infected the other because they shared an entryway, or that they each contracted the virus separately at their workplaces.

The virus threatens the communities’ most vulnerable populations, including low-income workers and their extended families.

In this Friday, May 1, 2020, photo, medical workers flex their muscles as they pose for a photo at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site in Waterloo, Iowa. The coronavirus is devastating the nation’s meatpacking communities — places like Waterloo and Sioux City in Iowa, Grand Island, Neb., and Worthington, Minn. Within weeks, the outbreaks around slaughterhouses have turned into full-scale disasters. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

“They’re afraid of catching the virus. They’re afraid of spreading it to family members. Some of them are afraid of dying,” said the Rev. Jim Callahan, of the Church of St. Mary of Worthington, a city of 13,000 that has attracted immigrants from across the globe to work at the JBS pork processing plant.

“One guy said to me, ‘I risked my life coming here. I never thought something that I can’t see could take me out.’”

In Grand Island, an outbreak linked to a JBS beef plant that is the city’s largest employer spread rapidly across the rural central Nebraska region, killing more than three dozen people. Many of the dead were elderly residents of long-term care facilities who had relatives or friends employed at the plant.

In Waterloo, local officials blame Tyson for endangering not only its workers and their relatives but everyone else who leaves home to work or get groceries. They are furious with the state and federal governments for failing to intervene — and for pushing hard to reopen the plant days after public pressure helped shut it down.



“We were failed by people who put profit margins and greed before people, predominantly brown people, predominantly immigrants, predominantly people who live in lower socioeconomic quarters,” said Jonathan Grieder, a high school social studies teacher who serves on Waterloo’s city council. “This is going to be with us for so long. There are going to be very deep scars in our community.”

Grieder cried as he recounted how one of his former students, 19, lost her father to the coronavirus and has been left to raise two younger siblings. Their mother died of cancer last September.

Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson said he first became concerned after touring the Tyson plant April 10 and witnessing inadequate social distancing and a lack of personal protective equipment. As hundreds of workers began getting sick or staying home out of fear, Thompson joined the mayor and scores of local officials in asking Tyson to close the plant temporarily on April 16.

But Tyson, with support from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, waited until April 22 to announce that step after the outbreak intensified. The company warned of the significant economic consequences even a temporary shutdown would create.

The plant, which can process 19,500 hogs per day, is now poised to resume production after President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to require meatpackers to stay open.

Reynolds and Tyson have argued the plant with 2,800 workers is critical to the nation’s pork supply and the regional farmers who sell millions of hogs to Tyson.

In three weeks, Black Hawk County’s cases skyrocketed from 62 to 1,523 — more than 1% of its 132,000 residents. Deaths rose from zero to 15. Ninety percent of the cases are “attributed or related to the plant,” the county’s public health director said.

Tyson has not released the number of workers who tested positive but said that “workplace safety continues to be a top priority.”

Thompson said the plant’s outbreak decimated the community’s “first line of defense” and allowed the virus to spread to nursing homes and the jail he oversees. “These are the places we did not want to fight the COVID-19 virus,” he said.

In this Friday, May 1, 2020, photo, Jonathan Grieder, a high school social studies teacher who serves on the Waterloo City Council, stands on the front porch of his Iowa home. “We were failed by people who put profit margins and greed before people, predominantly brown people, predominantly immigrants, predominantly people who live in lower socioeconomic quarters,” Grieder said. “This is going to be with us for so long. There are going to be very deep scars in our community.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

The losses are quickly mounting.

A refugee from Bosnia died days after falling sick while working on the Tyson production line, leaving behind her heartbroken husband. The virus also took an intellectually disabled man who died at 73, years after escaping forced labor at an Iowa turkey plant and happily retiring to Waterloo.

Scott, who went by the nickname Dontae, was planning to reunite in June with two teenage children he had not seen in person since he was incarcerated on federal drug charges in 2011.

A former small-time heroin distributor who suffered from addiction, he and his wife divorced during his prison term, and she moved to Mississippi with the children. Since his 2018 release, friends said he was doing well and rebuilding relationships.

Scott told his daughter, Destiny Proctor, 18, that he suspected he became infected at the Tyson pet food factory, which has stayed open under federal guidance classifying the industry as critical infrastructure.

This March 11, 2020, photo provided by Destiny Proctor shows her father Arthur Scott, at the Tyson dog treats factory in Independence, Iowa. Scott died on April 23 after contracting the coronavirus. His neighbor in a Waterloo, Iowa, duplex also died of the virus. (Courtesy of of Destiny Proctor via AP)

Proctor and her 15-year-old brother were looking forward to living with their dad this summer. Instead, their final talk was a video call from a hospital where he struggled to talk.

“It was so, so sad,” said Proctor, who described her father as funny and caring and frequently sending her cards and gifts. “He told me he couldn’t breathe.”

___

Associated Press writers Amy Forliti in Minneapolis and Grant Schulte in Lincoln, Nebraska, contributed to this story.

Virus-afflicted 2020 looks like 1918 despite science’s march

By CALVIN WOODWARD MAY 4, 2020 

FILE - In this 1918 file photo made available by the Library of Congress, volunteer nurses from the American Red Cross tend to influenza patients in the Oakland Municipal Auditorium, used as a temporary hospital. Science has ticked off some major accomplishments over the last century. The world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks. Yet in many ways, 2020 is looking like 1918, the year the great influenza pandemic raged. (Edward A. "Doc" Rogers/Library of Congress via AP, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite a century’s progress in science, 2020 is looking a lot like 1918.

In the years between two lethal pandemics, one the misnamed Spanish flu, the other COVID-19, the world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks.

Yet here we are again, face-masked to the max. And still unable to crush an insidious yet avoidable infectious disease before hundreds of thousands die from it.

As in 1918, people are again hearing hollow assurances at odds with the reality of hospitals and morgues filling up and bank accounts draining. The ancient common sense of quarantining is back. So is quackery: Rub raw onions on your chest, they said in 1918. How about disinfectant in your veins now? mused President Donald Trump, drawing gasps instead of laughs over what he weakly tried to pass off as a joke.

In 1918, no one had a vaccine, treatment or cure for the great flu pandemic as it ravaged the world and killed more than 50 million people. No one has any of that for the coronavirus, either.

Modern science quickly identified today’s new coronavirus, mapped its genetic code and developed a diagnostic test, tapping knowledge no one had in 1918. That has given people more of a fighting chance to stay out of harm’s way, at least in countries that deployed tests quickly, which the U.S. didn’t.

But the ways to avoid getting sick and what to do when sick are little changed. The failure of U.S. presidents to take the threat seriously from the start also joins past to present.

Trump all but declared victory before infection took root in his country and he’s delivered a stream of misinformation ever since. President Woodrow Wilson’s principal failure was his silence.

FILE - In this November 1918 photo made available by the Library of Congress, a nurse takes the pulse of a patient in the influenza ward of the Walter Reed hospital in Washington. Science has ticked off some major accomplishments over the last century. The world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks. Yet in many ways, 2020 is looking like 1918, the year the great influenza pandemic raged. (Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress via AP, File)


Not once, historians say, did Wilson publicly speak about a disease that was killing Americans grotesquely and in huge numbers, even though he contracted it himself and was never the same after. Wilson fixated on America’s parallel fight in World War I like “a dog with a bone,” says John M. Barry, author of “The Great Influenza.”

The suspected ground zero of the Spanish flu ranges from Kansas to China. But it was clear to U.S. officials even in 1918 that it didn’t start in Spain.

The pandemic took on Spain’s name only because its free press ambitiously reported the devastation in the disease’s early 1918 wave while government officials and a complicit press in countries at war — the U.S. among them — played it down in a time of jingoism, censorship and denial.

Like COVID-19, the 1918 pandemic came from a respiratory virus that jumped from animals to people, was transmitted the same way, and had similar pathology, Barry said by email. Social distancing, hand-washing and masks were leading control measures then and now.

Medical advice from then also resonates today: “If you get it, stay at home, rest in bed, keep warm, drink hot drinks and stay quiet until the symptoms are past,” said Dr. John Dill Robertson, Chicago health commissioner in 1918. “Then continue to be careful, for the greatest danger is from pneumonia or some kindred disease after the influenza is gone.”

In the manner of the day, there just had to be a catchy rhyme in circulation, too: “Cover up each cough and sneeze. If you don’t you’ll spread disease.”

But there were also marked differences between the viruses of 1918 and 2020. The Spanish flu was particularly dangerous to healthy people aged 20 to 40 — the prime generation of military service — paradoxically because of their vibrant immune systems.

When such people got infected, their antibodies went after the virus like soldiers spilling from the trenches of Europe’s killing fields.

“The immune system was throwing every weapon it had at the virus,” Barry said. “The battlefield was the lung. The lung was being destroyed in that battle.”


This Library of Congress photo shows a demonstration at the Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during the influenza pandemic of 1918. Science has ticked off some major accomplishments over the last century. The world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks. Yet in many ways, 2020 is looking like 1918, the year the great influenza pandemic raged. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division via AP)


Young soldiers and sailors massed at military camps in the U.S., sailed for Europe on ships stuffed to the gunwales with humanity, fought side by side in the trenches and came home in victory to adoring crowds. The toll was enormous, on them and the people they infected. The Spanish flu could just as easily have been called the U.S. Army or U.S. Navy flu instead. Or the German or British flu, for that matter.

Among those who died in the pandemic was Friedrich Trump, Donald Trump’s paternal grandfather. Among those who contracted it and recovered were the wartime leaders of Britain and Germany as well as of the United States, British and Spanish kings and the future U.S. president, Franklin Roosevelt, when he was assistant Navy secretary.

But the toll was heavier on average people and the poor, crowded in tenements, street cars and sweaty factories.

They could not all live by the words of the 1918 U.S. surgeon general, Rupert Blue: “Keep out of crowds and stuffy places as much as possible. ... The value of fresh air through open windows cannot be overemphasized. ... Make every possible effort to breath as much pure air as possible.”

An estimated 675,000 Americans died in the pandemic, which is thought to have infected one-third of the global population.

BAD SCIENCE

In 1918, the surgeon general noted in a handbill that “a person who has only a mild attack of the disease himself may give a very severe attack to others.” The warning is just as applicable to the coronavirus, especially as scientists learned large numbers of people with COVID-19 may spread it despite no obvious symptoms. Exactly how often the new virus kills can’t be determined without better counts of the infected; some estimates put the 1918 flu’s death rate at 2.5%.

Blue’s public notice also warned people to avoid charlatans and only get medicine from doctors.

Physicians, though, didn’t always know what they were doing. Medical journals at the time describe a rash of unusual treatments, some in the league of Trump’s amateur theories about disinfectant, blasts of lights and an unapproved drug that has both potential benefits and risks.

One 1918-era doctor recommended that people sniff a boric acid and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) powder to rinse out nasal passages. Others prescribed quinine, strychnine and a poisonous garden plant called Digitalis to help circulation, as well as drugs derived from iodine for “internal disinfection,” according to Laura Spinney, who wrote the 2017 book “Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World.”

Popular theories spread that warming your feet would prevent infection, or gobbling brown sugar, or getting the onion rubdown. A “clean heart” was one supposed preventive, though it is not clear whether that meant the organ or the heart of love.


This Library of Congress photo shows a demonstration at the Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during the influenza pandemic of 1918. Science has ticked off some major accomplishments over the last century. The world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks. Yet in many ways, 2020 is looking like 1918, the year the great influenza pandemic raged. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division via AP)“There was no Tony Fauci back then,” Barry said in a remote Library of Congress interview in April.

We have Fauci now — a federal immunologist who has been regarded as the truth-teller in White House briefings, singularly immune to Trump’s positive spin and falsehoods. Plus, we know so much more than people did in 1918.

Yet we’re still hearing lots of Dark Ages nonsense.

Conspiracy theorists have blamed COVID-19 on the development of 5G networks, just as they say radio waves caused the 1918 flu. Arsonists recently torched more than a dozen British cell towers after that falsehood circulated.

Over the months of this pandemic, The Associated Press has debunked a series of bogus remedies that spread on Facebook, Twitter and the like. No, blasting hot air up your nose from a hair dryer won’t protect you. Nor will drinking tonic water, eating high-alkaline foods, stuffing antibiotic ointment up your nose, downing vodka or any home elixir.

No, it’s not true that if you can’t hold your breath very long, you have COVID-19. Or that a vaccine from a lab only works on a disease created by a lab.

Social distancing has not come with social-media distancing. Over a century of science, we haven’t gone back to the future, but ahead to the past.

LESSONS OF 1918 (and 1919) WHICH TRUMP HAS NOT LEARNED BECAUSE HEKEEPS REFERING TO THE SPANISH FLU OUTBREAK AS '1917' WHICH OF COURSE WAS THE YEAR OF THE GLORIOUS RUSSIAN REVOLUTION WHICH KICKED THE PARASITES LIKE HIM OUT OF POWER. THE REVOLUTION WHICH STARTED IN THE SPRING ENDED IN NOVEMBER WITH THE BOLSHEVIK WORKER SOLDIERS IN CHARGE, WITH NO WORD OF PANDEMIC MENTIONED IN THE HISTORY BOOKS, WHILE THERE WAS FAMINE. 

In September 1918, as the Spanish flu’s second and by far deadliest wave hit in the U.S., Philadelphia’s public health chief disregarded advisers and let a massive war-bond parade proceed through downtown. The H1N1 virus raced through the masses in what has been called the world’s deadliest parade. As officials insisted there was nothing to be alarmed about, people were seeing neighbors sicken and die with astonishing speed and mass graves being dug.

“It’s just the flu” had worn thin as the mantra of officialdom.


FILE - In this Oct. 19, 1918 file photo provide by the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command a sign is posted at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia that indicates, the Spanish Influenza was then extremely active. Science has ticked off some major accomplishments over the last century. The world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks. Yet in many ways, 2020 is looking like 1918, the year the great influenza pandemic raged. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command via AP)

Late that November, sirens wailed in San Francisco to sound the all-clear after six weeks of lockdown and tell people they could remove their masks. San Francisco, like many cities in the West, had been largely spared the first wave and spent the interval preparing for Round 2, mandating masks and jailing people who didn’t comply.

They had a rhyme for that, too, of course: “Obey the laws, and wear the gauze. Protect your jaws from septic paws.”

The precautions paid off with a death rate lower than in afflicted cities elsewhere. But the city relaxed too soon.

In December, thousands of new cases erupted. A wave spilling into the new year was underway. San Francisco’s death toll mounted by more than 1,000. It was the last lashing by the Spanish flu, and a less lethal one.

The brutal lessons of 1918 and 1919? To Barry, who was enlisted 15 years ago in a Bush administration drive to prepare all levels of government for pandemics, they are to respond early, relax cautiously, tell people the truth.

Instead he has seen denial followed by a chaotic federal response and leadership vacuum as Washington and the states compete for the same medical essentials and now move fitfully toward reopening.

“Now we have plans, even war-gamed the plans, spent billions preparing for just what is happening, federal agencies have been tasked to handle all these things, and we get ... next to nothing,” he said.

Not even a jingle.


___

Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Lauran Neergaard in Washington, Amanda Seitz in Chicago and Karen Mahabir in New York contributed to this report.

US Meatpackers cautiously reopen plants amid coronavirus fears

By STEPHEN GROVES

1 of 8
Healthcare workers run a coronavirus testing site for Smithfield employees in the Washington High School parking lot on Monday, May 4, 2020 in Sioux Falls, S.D. (Erin Bormett/The Argus Leader via AP)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota pork processing plant took its first steps toward reopening Monday after being shuttered for over two weeks because of a coronavirus outbreak that infected more than 800 employees.

Employees reporting for work in Smithfield Foods’ ground pork department filed through a tent where they were screened for fever and other signs of COVID-19. Some said they felt the measures Smithfield has taken would protect them from another virus outbreak, while others were not confident that infections could be halted in a crowded plant.

Lydia Toby said she was “kind of worried” as she entered the plant before 6 a.m. for her first shift in over two weeks. Managers met employees in her department Friday and explained they had installed dividers on the production line and would require everyone to wear masks.

“I think it’s going to be OK,” Toby said.

In the wake of an executive order from President Donald Trump ordering meat plants to remain open, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods was also resuming “limited production” Monday at its pork plant in Logansport, Indiana, where nearly 900 employees tested positive. And the JBS pork plant in Worthington, Minnesota — just an hour east of Smithfield’s South Dakota plant — planned a partial reopening on Wednesday.



Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Monday called meatpacking plants — along with nursing homes — “the most dangerous places there are right now.” He called for greater protections for meatpacking workers, as well as a $13-an-hour pay premium.

“They designate them as essential workers and then treat them as disposable,” Biden said, on a conference call about protecting essential workers, such as meatpacking workers, that was organized by the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Virginia-based Smithfield is offering COVID-19 testing to all employees and their family members, according to a text message sent to employees. The message told employees to report to a local high school to be tested. Gov. Kristi Noem said employees aren’t required to undergo tests before returning to work, though it’s strongly encouraged. Noem’s health commissioner, Kim Malsam-Rysdon, said it was Smithfield’s decision to make the tests optional.

Smithfield didn’t respond to requests for comment.

About 250 employees were told to report to work on Monday, according to the union that represents them. The plant employs about 3,700 workers and produces roughly 5% of the nation’s pork.

Salaheldin Ahmed, who works in a department that has not yet reopened, said he was called in by plant management to look at changes.

“They fixed a lot of things,” he said, describing how workers would be spread apart where possible.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report Friday said more than 4,900 workers at meat and poultry processing facilities have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, including 20 who died. Not all states provided data.

The CDC researchers cited risks including difficulties with physical distancing and hygiene, and crowded living and transportation conditions. They suggested enhanced disinfection and that workers get regular screening for the virus, more space from co-workers and training materials in their native languages. Many meatpacking employees are immigrants; a CDC report on the Smithfield outbreak found that employees there spoke about 40 different languages.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents most beef and pork workers and about one-third of poultry workers nationwide, has called for stricter measures than the CDC’s, including mandating that workers be spaced 6 feet apart on production lines. It has appealed to governors for help enforcing worker safety rules. The union also wants to get rid of waivers that allow some plants to operate at faster speeds.

As plants warily reopen or others operate at diminished capacity with many workers staying home sick or in fear, it’s unclear Trump’s order will guarantee an unbroken supply of meat.

Tyson Foods reported record meat sales in the first quarter but warned investors Monday that it faces continued production slowdowns. Company officials said it expected lower productivity “in the short term until local infection rates begin to decrease.”

Zach Medhaug, a maintenance employee at Tyson’s pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa, said he will feel comfortable returning to work when the plant reopens, even as he fears that one of his closest colleagues may soon die from the coronavirus.

Jose Ayala, 44, is in critical condition on a ventilator at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics after catching the virus a month ago. Medhaug has been calling Ayala, who is medically paralyzed but may still be able to hear, encouraging him to keep fighting.

Medhaug tested positive himself for the coronavirus on April 20. He said he had mild symptoms and expects to return to work later this week at the plant, which suspended production April 22. Medhaug said Tyson has made key safety changes, such as vowing to enforce rather than just encourage social distancing and providing employees with masks instead of telling them to bring their own.

“That’s a huge step,” he said. “The people returning, I see them having a better chance of not getting it at all.”
__


Associated Press writers Ryan J. Foley in Iowa City, Iowa, and Dee-Ann Durbin in Ann Arbor, Michigan, contributed to this report.

BACKGROUNDER  

NDP demands inquiry into Alberta meat plant COVID-19 protocols as Cargill plans reopening

BY HEIDE PEARSON GLOBAL NEWS April 30, 2020 1:43

Dr. Deena Hinshaw responds to the re-opening of the Cargill meatpacking plant after closing due to an outbreak of COVID-19.

As the Cargill Meat Solutions plant in High River, Alta., gets set to restart its operations, the Opposition NDP is calling for an inquiry into how the coronavirus response was handled at that, and other meat facilities, in Alberta.

Speaking about the deaths on Wednesday, NDP Labour and Immigration Critic Christina Gray said the government dropped the ball in not initiating stricter protocols for workplaces like meat facilities.

Along with Cargill, an outbreak of the virus has also seen hundreds fall ill and one person die at the JBS Foods plant in Brooks. Cases have also popped up at other facilities around the province.

WATCH Alberta NDP call for inquiry into Cargill outbreak

Gray said on March 6, the NDP called for the UCP to provide funding and staffing to do inspections of workplaces, which she says the government ignored.

“As the former minister, I’m very well aware of the tight quarters within these plants, and the difficulties with ensuring proper physical distancing measures being taken,” Gray said.

WATCH Alberta Filipino community ‘worried for our lives’ as members test positive for COVID-19

A month later, workers at the Cargill facility started raising concerns about the safety conditions in the plant, which Gray said “fell on deaf ears.”

“I want to again call on the premier to commit to a full, public inquiry into the handling of these outbreaks,” Gray said.

“To be clear, I am not, and have not, calling for a public inquiry now. Only a commitment that one will occur once the provincial state of emergency has been lifted.”

Gray also called for the JBS plant to be closed.

According to Alberta Health, as of Wednesday, 821 cases of the novel coronavirus had been confirmed in workers at the Cargill plant and 276 cases among employees and contractors at JBS.

“We have taken every outbreak seriously and have used our fundamental outbreak principals to limit spread in settings of concern,” chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Wednesday.

In an emailed statement, the Department of Labour and Immigration said it was “far too soon “to speculate about the mechanism to conduct an inquiry, federal vs. provincial, etc.”

The department said Occupational Health and Safety is empowered to do reviews at individual workplaces, and as investigations into both the Cargill and JBS plants are underway, the government couldn’t provide any further comment.

“It’s fully expected that some sort of comprehensive review of the COVID-19 pandemic period will take place after the pandemic has passed,” the department said.

“AHS and OHS officials will continue to work to ensure that Cargill, JBS and other food processing facilities are implementing appropriate measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect workers. Both AHS and OHS will be onsite at Cargill prior to work resuming to do this work.” 

Cargill to restart operations

Meanwhile, Cargill said Wednesday that it will be resuming operations at the High River plant on May 4, bringing back one shift.

The company said the decision was made in consultation with Alberta Health Services and Occupational Health and Safety.

“All employees who are eligible to return to work in our harvest department are asked to report to work,” Cargill said in a news release.

“In keeping with our extensive focus on safety, we want to emphasize that employees should be healthy and not had contact with anyone with the COVID-19 virus for 14 days. Further, out of an abundance of caution, they should continue social distancing in the facility.”

According to Hinshaw, local medical officers of health have done on-site inspections at the plant, which stalled its operations more than a week ago.

“My understanding, from the information that my colleagues have given me, is that this plant in particular has made sure that all measures to prevent spread of infection are being put in place,” Hinshaw said.

READ MORE: Online petition calls for temporary shutdown of JBS meat plant in Brooks, Alberta

She added the health and safety protocols were enhanced, especially in places like the locker room, where additional measures have been put in place.

“Based on these on-site inspections and their assessment of the situation, my colleagues at Alberta Health Services have indicated that they feel these measures are sufficient to limit the spread of infection,” Hinshaw said.

During the temporary closure, Cargill said it took time to take the following extra steps to ensure the health and safety of its employees: 

Reduced likelihood of carpooling to reduce potential for transmission in transit 

Limited access to the plant to no more than two people per car (sitting in the front and back seat to maintain proper social distance) 

Provided buses that have been retrofitted with protective barriers between the seats to alleviate the need for carpooling from multiple areas — employees living in the same household will be granted a variance to the carpooling limitation 

Worked with OHS through both virtual and in-person tours of the plant so they can see firsthand the work being done to protect and minimize the risk to employees on site 

Added additional barriers in the bathrooms and reassigned lockers to allow for necessary spacing 

Conducted extensive COVID-19 sanitation process, including additional cleaning in the parts of our facility that have been closed for 21 days 

Focus on education and awareness of social distancing inside and outside of work, including not sharing food during meals 

Cargill said employees who worked, or were scheduled to work, this week were also paid 36 hours of pay for the week and those who are off to deal with COVID-19-related illnesses are still being offered 80 hours of paid leave.

Union ‘not vaguely reassured’ facility is safe

However, the union representing the workers at the plant, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 401, is not happy about the re-open plan.

“There’s been no meaningful consultation with the union or the workers and we’re outraged. I’ve instructed our lawyers that we will engage any legal action available to us to prevent the plant from opening,” union president Thomas Hesse said.

Hesse said the only collaboration the company has had with the union was an invitation for a representative to be part of a “brief visual tour of the plant on very short notice to see what the plant looked like without any workers in it.”

“That’s not a health and safety inspection,” Hesse said. “In fact, the company was angry when the union representative took some photos of the interior of the plant and demanded those photos be returned to the company.”

He said the union is “not vaguely reassured” the facility is safe for workers to return to their jobs.

The union also wants clarification on what operating with one shift will look like, including how many workers will be in the plant during that shift. It also wants details on what’s being done in locker rooms and lunch rooms, as well at the start and end of those shift, to make sure those reporting to work are able to keep two metres apart.


READ MORE: New measures added at High River, Alta., Cargill plant after workers raise coronavirus concerns

“There’s a lot of boxes that need to be checked and a lot of assurances need to be offered to Albertans before we can conclude that the plant will operate safely,” Hesse said.

“A few tidbits are hardly enough to reassure the union that thousands of workers are going to be safe. We have not seen a comprehensive A-to-Z report regarding procedure and protocols that would keep people safe in that plant.”

Hesse said the plant is looking at several avenues to oppose the planned opening, including complaints to Occupational Health and Safety, filing grievances through the collective agreement and possible court action.

The UCP government disputed the union’s claims, saying UFCW workers have “been directly involved in the OHS workplace inspection process and were free to raise specific concerns that they might have had.”

“OHS takes workplace safety seriously and will examine any concerns that are raised through the complaints process going forward,” the department said.

According to the UFCW, workers have told them the JBS plant in Brooks is operating at 30 per cent capacity.

Global News has reached out to both Cargill Meat Solutions and JBS Foods for comment. This story will be updated when a response is received.

Employee tests positive for COVID-19 at Calgary chicken plant 

2 employees of Mountain View Poultry plant in Okotoks test positive for novel coronavirus

© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc

BACKGROUNDER
Filipino workers at Cargill meatpacking plant feel unfairly blamed for Canada's biggest COVID-19 outbreak

Joel Dryden · CBC News · Posted:  April 27

As of Friday, 558 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in workers from the Cargill meat plant

Elma Ton, second from right, said she has been disappointed to see comments making fun of the Filipino community online in the wake of the Cargill outbreak. Her husband Rodel Ton, far right, works at Cargill. (Submitted by Elma Ton)

Arwyn Sallegue, an employee of Cargill's meat-packing plant in High River, Alta. — where 558 workers have confirmed cases of COVID-19 — said he's noticed an upsetting trend online.

Cases connected to the Cargill meat plant outbreak have increased dramatically over the past two weeks. As of Friday, there were 558 cases in workers from the plant, with 798 total cases linked to the coronavirus outbreak. It's the largest outbreak linked to a single site in Canada.

"I see a bunch of [comments] blaming us [for the outbreak], because they said it's in the households," he said.

"We cannot blame anybody. Everyone's a victim. Nobody wants to become sick and ill."

Sallegue, who is a permanent resident of Canada, tested positive for COVID-19 on April 23 and has been in self-isolation. The same day, his father, Armando Sallegue, visiting Canada from the Philippines, also developed symptoms. He, too, was confirmed to have the virus.

"He's only a visitor here, and he doesn't have any health-care coverage," Sallegue said. "He was hardly breathing. He went to the ICU."

Arwyn Salleague's father, Armando Sallegue, who is visiting Canada from the Philippines, is in an intensive care unit after testing positive for COVID-19. (Arwyn Sallegue)

Elma Ton, whose husband works at Cargill, said she also has been disappointed to see comments online, specifically those that disparage multiple Filipino families living under one roof.

"I feel bad. Because instead of helping [the Filipino community], supporting them, understanding them, they're still making fun of us," Ton said.

"Filipinos are known to have strong family ties. So as much as possible, we love to live together."

Lisa Degenstein, who works for the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society in High River, said she had heard of similar comments targeting the Filipino community over the past number of days.

"There's something a little disturbing happening, a bit of community backlash happening. People say, 'Hey, don't you work at Cargill?'" she said. "And isn't it a lot easier to look at someone who isn't white and start making assumptions."
Feeling blamed

One employee at the Cargill plant, a woman of Vietnamese background in her sixties, has died.

Employees at the facility have accused the company of ignoring physical-distancing protocols — citing "elbow-to-elbow" working conditions — and of trying to lure them back to work from self-isolation. 

What led to Alberta's biggest outbreak? Cargill meat plant's hundreds of COVID-19 cases

Health and safety inspection of Alberta meat plant linked to 515 COVID-19 cases was done by video call

A separate outbreak at the JBS meat processing plant in Brooks now has seen 156 cases in workers from the plant, with two deaths — a worker and an individual linked to the outbreak. That plant remains open, operating at one shift per day.

A big chunk of the workforce at the Cargill facility are Filipino, some of whom are temporary foreign workers (TFWs) and others who are permanent residents. Employees interviewed estimated 60 to 80 per cent of the workforce is Filipino.

Cesar Cala with the Philippines Emergency Response Taskforce — a network of volunteers that seeks to support crises in the Filipino community — said many in the community are afraid to speak out about their experiences, especially TFWs whose stay in Canada is linked to their employment at these facilities.

Cesar Cala, a volunteer with the Philippines Emergency Response Taskforce, said many Filipinos feel like they're being singled out and blamed for the crisis at Cargill. (Cesar Cala)

But this has posed a challenge, as Cala said many in the community feel as though their concerns were not taken seriously.

"Many Filipino workers and residents sent a letter to the company asking that the plant be closed so that safety measures could be put in place, but no actions were taken," Cala said.

    

      NOT HAPPENING AT CARGILL

That letter was signed by more than 250 Filipino residents and sent April 12 — a day before 38 cases were confirmed by the union — calling for the plant to be closed for two weeks.

The plant remained open for the rest of the week, and 358 cases were confirmed five days later.

'Several pieces of this puzzle'

On April 18, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen, along with Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, and other health officials, participated in a telephone town hall with Cargill workers. Dreeshen said he was confident the plant was safe.

Two days later, Cargill announced it would shut down the facility temporarily after it was announced that a worker had died.

"The situation got worse, and what [the Filipino community is] hearing from officials is that they are the ones spreading the virus," Cala said.

Hinshaw has said that many cases at the Cargill facility were likely exposed to COVID-19 weeks ago, and many factors have been identified that contributed to the spread.

Employees continued to carpool to work after safety measures were introduced at the plant, Hinshaw said, and some employees of continuing care centres with outbreaks also lived in large households with Cargill workers.

Many family members living in those households also don't have enough space to self isolate, she said.

"There seems to be several pieces of this puzzle, and the challenge has been to put all of those pieces together," Hinshaw said Monday. "I would say that plant shutdown is not a single, only factor in this."

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Friday that there is no reason to assume that everyone connected with Cargill is infected with COVID-19. (Art Raham/CBC)

Later in the week, Hinshaw said those affected by the outbreak deserved support, and should not be restricted from accessing businesses like grocery stores or banks.

"There is no reason to assume that everyone connected with that facility is infected," she said. "The people who are affected by this outbreak are experiencing many difficulties, and they need support and compassion as we work to stop further spread."
Challenges and frustrations

Cala said the realities of transportation and housing are out of the control of many employees at these facilities. Having sent a letter voicing their concerns before numbers of confirmed cases skyrocketed, Cala said they now feel they have been unfairly blamed.

"That's why I think it's important that public leaders need to speak out and say, no, this is our common, collective issue, it's not an issue of the Filipino community," Cala said. "No one is covering their backs. It's more like, 'Hey, you're partly to blame for this.' That's not very good to hear."

Cargill is one of the two primary beef suppliers for McDonald's Canada, and normally processes about 4,500 cattle per day at this time of year. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Daniel Sullivan, a spokesperson with Cargill, said the company was working with health officials and community organizations to provide further support for TFWs and other employees.

"Our workers have been deemed essential – like healthcare workers and first responders – and we are committed to supporting them," he said in an email to CBC News. "It is important to know that all TFWs are union members with the same wages and benefits as other workers in our facilities."

Sallegue, still in self-isolation as he awaits news on his father in ICU, said he hopes that foreign workers can receive the support they need.

"Only thing I'm feeling right now is, we need support. We are here to work, to contribute and help," he said. "I hope you will not blame our community."

‘Death is so real’: Immigrant group says meat workers afraid after COVID-19 plant closure

BY BILL GRAVELAND THE CANADIAN PRESS April 25, 2020

https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/2da4dd7e-84f7-11ea-9793-0242ac110003/?jwsource=cl
WATCH ABOVE (April 22, 2020): The workers at a Cargill meat plant in Alberta -- and their families -- are no doubt on edge, and have been for weeks. The novel coronavirus has significantly impacted the Filipino community in the area because many are employed at the plant and have tested positive. Jill Croteau reports.

An organization that works with immigrants says the temporary closure of a large slaughterhouse in southern Alberta has left many among its largely Filipino workforce fearful for the future.

Cargill shut down its plant just north of High River, Alta., earlier this week after an outbreak of COVID-19 and the death of one employee. The decision put 2,000 employees out of work.

Marichu Antonio from Action Dignity said 70 per cent of the workers at Cargill are Filipino. There are also Mexicans, Chinese and Vietnamese working at the plant.

Her organization, previously known as the Ethno-Cultural Council of Calgary, assists new Canadians obtain services. She said it has received hundreds of calls from Cargill workers.

Antonio, who is originally from the Philippines, said people are worried about what happens after the plant reopens.

 “The possibility of death is so real right now. They know the long-term implications to their families if something happens to them as the main breadwinners, so they’re very worried. They’re afraid,” she said.
“They don’t know what their future is and they don’t know what is best for them.”TWEET THIS

Antonio said the death of the Cargill worker in her 60s has hit many people hard.

“The woman who passed away was of Vietnamese descent. She took her sick day that Friday and then she was hospitalized Saturday and passed away Sunday.”

Antonio’s organization helped the woman’s husband arrange a funeral.

Cesar Cala, a co-convener of the Filipino Emergency Response Task Force, said a significant number of plant employees are temporary foreign workers here in Canada alone. There are also many with permanent resident status who have their families with them.

He said those who are sending money home often look to save expenses by moving in with other workers.

“Either they rent places or they make living arrangements with other workers from other businesses. It’s a good way to save money.”

The cost savings go beyond living together.

“They car-pool. Most of them live in Calgary, so it saves a lot of money for them to go in a car-pool … five of them going there together and coming back.”

Cala said workers are worried about their health and feeling pressure to head back to work, even if they are still showing symptoms. He said having a steady income is a priority for them.

“For a lot of the (temporary foreign workers), their employment and their status to stay in Canada is tied up to their employment. It’s not just losing their jobs,” he said.

“It might be about losing their status as well. They’ve incurred so much cost coming to Canada and they’re also quite anxious, because there’s no clarity on what’s going to happen and what’s in store.”

Antonio said her group has been urging workers to tell their stories publicly.

“We’ve been asking them … to share their stories and their reality, but they’re afraid that they may not be rehired. There are many stories that they can tell.”

BACKGROUNDER
Alberta Labour offers details on probe looking into COVID-19 death linked to Cargill meat plant

BY PHIL HEIDENREICH GLOBAL NEWS  April 23, 2020

As the number of COVID-19 cases linked to the Cargill meat plant in High River, Alta., continues to climb, the Alberta government is confirming more details about the scope of investigations looking into both the outbreak there and a death linked to the facility.

As of Thursday, 480 workers at the Cargill facility had tested positive for COVID-19, including one who died, with another 140 cases linked to spread in the community.

READ MORE: Cargill plant shutdown does not mean COVID-19 risk is contained: High River mayor

In a statement issued to Global News on Thursday, a spokesperson for Alberta Labour said Occupational Health and Safety is currently investigating the death as well as “the circumstances at the work site that may have led to workers becoming infected.”

“These investigations will look at the circumstances surrounding potential exposure of workers at Cargill related to COVID-19,” Adrienne South, press secretary for Labour Minister Jason Copping, said in an email. “This will also include an investigation of any potential non-compliance that may have affected the health and safety of workers at the facility.

“Workplace factors such as training, control measures, different job roles, etc., will factor into determining the full scope of any investigation.”

More cases of COVID-19 linked to Alberta meat-packing facilities More cases of COVID-19 linked to Alberta meat-packing facilities

Alberta NDP Labour Critic Christina Gray called for a public inquiry on Thursday into the handling of COVID-19 outbreaks in Alberta meat-processing plants.

“We believe the premier and the government cabinet failed to act at Cargill and also appear resistant to meaningful action at the JBS plant,” she said in a statement. “Now, we have significant community spread in two Alberta communities and at least one worker has died.

“This government has lost the trust of the public. The only way we can truly learn from these tragedies and hold the government to account on these serious matters is through the launch of a full public inquiry.”

At the JBS meat plant in Brooks, Alta., there have been 124 cases of COVID-19 involving workers and contractors as of Thursday afternoon. The death of a worker and another person from Brooks were confirmed Thursday as being caused by COVID-19.

“These two additional deaths are the ones that I mentioned yesterday with respect to Brooks, which have now both been confirmed as cases of COVID-19,” Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said at a news conference in Edmonton on Thursday

She added that one was an employee at JBS Foods and the other was a household contact of an employee.

“My sincere condolences go out to everyone grieving the loss of a loved one today.”

South said after the first COVID-19 case was reported at Harmony Beef north of Calgary, “an intergovernmental business resumption protocol was immediately established for provincially and federally licensed food processing facilities in Alberta.”
“While many food processing facilities have existing pandemic and emergency response plans in place, it was critical to work with all actors involved to bolster their plans and help keep workers safe and guarantee Alberta’s food security,” she said. “In addition to OHS, AHS officials have also visited Cargill High River on a number of occasions.”

At the Cargill site, South said a live inspection was done with an “inspector directing movement as required” and that video of the inspection was captured for OHS to refer to later if they need to.

“Due to the circumstances of the pandemic, video conferencing was employed,” she said. “Video inspections are being conducted to mitigate risk of exposure of all parties. Such inspections are not specific or unique to the Cargill facility.

“The officer doing the inspection observed the employees at their daily duties.”

South said a unionized plant worker and a shop steward with the United Food and Commercial Workers union joined the employer for the official OHS inspection.

Earlier this week, Hinshaw said plant conditions and practices aren’t the only factors that need to be looked at when it comes to understanding the COVID-19 outbreak tied to the Cargill plant.

“We know in this particular outbreak, when cases were identified, there were measures put in place at the plant, but some of the other measures that we’re now seeing are really critical,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw said on April 20. “There are things like carpooling that’s been identified as a risk, and so not just looking at the plant itself, but looking at how do people get back and forth to work, thinking about households.

“There’s households where people simply don’t have the space to self-isolate if they’re a case or if they’re a close contact and needing to provide supports to those people.”

The president of United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 401 said he believes the employers and OHS should have done more and sooner.

“This didn’t have to happen,” Thomas Hesse said. “The government’s job is to protect its citizens from large multimillion-dollar corporations and the government didn’t do its job.”

In a statement issued to Global News on Thursday, Cargill said that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has “worked in lock step with local health officials and other regulators.”

“Our team are essential workers like health-care workers and first responders,” spokesperson Daniel Sullivan said. “Our hearts go out to our employees who are impacted by the virus.

“We have taken industry-leading health and safety measures, including temperature testing, providing and encouraging the use of face coverings, cleaning and sanitizing procedures, prohibiting visitors from our facilities, stopping travel, adopting social distancing practices where possible and offering shift flexibility, staggered breaks, and increased spacing and partitions in work areas.

“We have and continue to follow OHS guidance and are fully engaged in addressing the community-wide impacts of the virus.”

Earlier this week, Cargill said it was taking steps to temporarily close the plant. There are still questions about what that decision will mean for workers there.

The UFCW is now calling for the JBS plant in Brooks to temporarily shut down.

In an email to Global News on Wednesday, a spokesperson for JBS said the company “cannot know for certain how, where or when our team members were infected given the widespread nature of the virus.”

“Each case is heartbreaking. Our sympathies go out to everyone around the world who has been impacted by this common enemy we all face,” the email reads

“The Brooks facility remains open to continue to provide food for the country. We will not operate a facility if we do not believe it is safe.

“We are working diligently to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and have adopted enhanced safety measures, health protocols and worker benefits to keep our workplaces, team members and products safe. The health and safety of our team members providing food for us all during this unprecedented time remains our top priority.”

–With files from Global News’ Heather Yourex-West and The Canadian Press’ Bill Graveland

BACKGROUNDER
Coronavirus: Employee at Cargill plant died within days of feeling ill, union says another is critical

BY JILL CROTEAU GLOBAL NEWS April 22, 2020

WATCH: https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/8b4adef2-842e-11ea-89d4-0242ac110004/?jwsource=cl
New details are emerging, along with calls for action, in light of the COVID-19 death of an employee at the Cargill meat plant. Some say the shut down didn’t come soon e

The woman in her late 60s who worked at the Cargill meat plant and died from COVID-19 commuted daily to High River from her home in Calgary.

When she left work on Thursday, nobody knew it would be her last shift.

READ MORE: 1 death connected to Cargill meat plant in High River as plant ‘idles’ processes

Community organizations working with Cargill employees shared more details with Global News.

Marichu Antonio, executive director for ActionDignity, said the woman called in sick on Friday, was rushed to hospital on Saturday and passed away Sunday evening.

Out of respect for the family, the group isn’t releasing names. The woman’s husband is grieving and showing symptoms of the virus.

“We are helping him look for affordable funeral service and taking care of that,” Antonio said.
“Also making sure he’s OK and his health is OK and he has the food he needs.”

WATCH 
https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/7af694f6-8366-11ea-a872-0242ac110002/?jwsource=cl
Cargill meat plant temporarily closing amid COVID-19 outbreak Cargill meat plant temporarily closing amid COVID-19 outbreak

The organization is not only supporting this family but others who have been displaced with the temporary closure of the plant. Staff and volunteers are guiding them through employee benefits and accessing resources.

“We have a resource package in different languages and videos so they can see what is the most effective way of taking care of their health,” Antonio said.

“They are worried — worried about employment status, not sure if they’ll be re-hired now that the plant is closed and they are worried about their health — some have children already infected and showing signs of the virus.”


READ MORE: Union says staff at 2nd Alberta meat plant scared of COVID-19, not showing up to work

Thomas Hesse, president of UFCW Local 401, said another worker is fighting for his life. The man in his 50s worked at the Cargill plant and came to Canada for a better life for himself and his family.

“He is in a medically induced coma and is on a ventilator in a Calgary hospital,” Hesse said.

“His family is traumatized.”

The Official Opposition is expressing concerns about how the outbreak at the plant was handled, questioning whether it came far too late. NDP leader Rachel Notley said concerns were raised days ago about close contact with coworkers and not having adequate protection.

“When we exempted Cargill, that should have been paired with very aggressive health and safety inspection and regular monitoring, and if that would have been done from the beginning, we could have avoided the shutdown,” Notley said on Tuesday.

“To run around and assure people they were safe is profoundly irresponsible. These people are human beings, they have families and it’s shocking they were allowed to put workers at risk.”

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Where Alberta’s COVID-19 outbreaks are

While appearing on The Ryan Jespersen Show on 630 CHED on Wednesday morning, Notley doubled down on her comments.


“The breakdown is absolutely at Jason Kenney’s cabinet table,” she said.

“This is a government that, honestly, thinks that some people and some industries are worth more than the lives of other people.”

Notley says she told labour and health officials that inspections at the Cargill plant needed to be stepped up on March 6. She told 630 CHED that she’s horrified that the inspection that was performed was a video inspection, shot by Cargill representatives.

“A video inspection is the most negligent example of that work that I’ve ever seen in my career and I used to do this work before I go into politics.”

Cargill has not responded to questions from Global News about the video inspection.

LISTEN BELOW: Rachel Notley joins The Ryan Jespersen Show


In a statement, Adrienne South, press secretary to Alberta’s minister of labour and immigration, said the inspection was not a video delivered to Occupational Health and Safety.

“It was a live inspection and fully interactive, with the inspector directing movement as required,” she said. “Video is also recorded so that the OHS official can go back and review and follow up if required.”

Video conferencing was also used during the inspection, she added, to “mitigate the risk of exposure of all parties.”

Alberta Health said Tuesday there are 401 COVID-19 cases in workers from the Cargill meat-processing plant, and 515 total cases have been linked to that outbreak.

“There is a dedicated team working on reducing spread, with particular attention to households that may not have the resources or space for self-isolation to happen,” the province said in a news release.

Government officials said a team responded as soon as they learned of the outbreak.

Spokesperson Steve Buick said Alberta Health also supported the company in its enhanced safety protocols.

“This is a complex issue,” Buick said. “Individual companies can make their own decisions regarding their operations, as they did in this case.”

Cargill did not respond to Global News’ requests for comment.

WATCH
https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/e80eccbc-7f69-11ea-a0a0-0242ac110003/?jwsource=cl

AHS to set up dedicated COVID-19 assessment centre at Cargill meat plant AHS to set up dedicated COVID-19 assessment centre at Cargill meat plant

Speaking to Global News Morning Calgary on Wednesday , High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass said the pandemic is “not a joke.”

“It’s not a hoax. It’s still a struggle for me to get that through to some people,” Snodgrass added. “We’re seeing now how fast this thing can spread and go haywire on you, so you have to take it seriously.

“It comes right down to the individual level, as to making sure that you’re taking the proper precautions and you’re being responsible for your own actions.”

“We’ve got to be more serious about this."

How the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting High River
WATCH
https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/8208a338-84ab-11ea-8d34-0242ac110005/?jwsource=cl

– With files from Kirby Bourne, 630 CHED

Widower of Cargill worker shares his loss after losing wife to COVID-19

BY JILL CROTEAU GLOBAL NEWS Posted May 4, 2020 
 

Volunteers set up for a small memorial for Hiep Bui. Jill Croteau/Global News

Speaking through a Vietnamese translator, a grieving widower shared his pain and grief after losing his wife of 27 years.
Nga Nguyen spoke Monday near their home in Calgary.
“I am so sad and I am speechless. I know I will not see my wife anymore,” Nguyen said.
 

Nga Nguyen speaks to media with the help of translator Anthony Chim. 

Jill Croteau/Global Calgary

“She was a wonderful wife. She spoiled me, she never argued with me and whatever I wanted to buy, she would buy it at all costs,” Nguyen said.

Hiep Bui, 67, died on April 19, 2020. She was COVID-19 positive.
She worked her final shift at the Cargill meat plant in High River on April 16. Her husband and coworkers said she loved working there and rarely called in sick over the span of her employment.

          IN CANADA RETIREMENT AGE IS 65 

“She was working 18-hour days for 23 years and there [were] no symptoms prior to that first day when she didn’t feel well,” Nguyen said.

 

Hiep Bui. Courtesy: Nga Nguyen

Coworker Leslie Robb said some of them affectionately called her the “candy mama.” She was always smiling and bringing treats.

“She was very funny and liked to joke around and was happy,” Robb said. “I miss her so much. She was like a partner to me.”

Numb and lost


Bui and Nguyen met on a boat while escaping the Vietnam war. They spent time together at the same refugee camp. The two never had children and were inseparable.

“We had so many great memories and I would embrace all the moments we were together,” Nguyen said.

But they couldn’t be together the day she died. Nguyen said she died alone.

“I am still numb, very lost,” Nguyen said.

“I want to follow her and find a way to join my wife.”

Most people, including other colleagues, couldn’t be at the tribute in person and watched as it was streamed on Facebook.

The tribute was planned by members of Action Dignity. Executive director Marichu Antonio said it was important to organize the event.

“The workers from Cargill are listening on Facebook live and as we remember Bui, they don’t want this to happen to their own families — just like Mr. Nga didn’t want this to happen to his wife,” Antonio said.

“They put their lives at risk just for us to have food and these are people we need to value.

“We wanted to put humanity over what’s happening in our economy.”

UFCW Local 401 president Thomas Hesse attended the intimate tribute. He came to pay his respects and offered cash gifts to Nguyen. 

“It’s very sad for me. This shouldn’t have happened and it’s a human tragedy,” Hesse said.

AFL calls it 'morally repugnant' to reopen meat-packing plant as COVID-19 cases among workers top 900

AFL president says it's 'reckless, irresponsible' for meat-packing plant to reopen May 4

Joel Dryden · CBC News · Posted: May 01, 2020 8:16 AM MT | Last Updated: May 1

Workers and contractors at the Cargill plant in High River — about 60 kilometres south of Calgary — now represent 908 cases of COVID-19, the province's chief medical officer of health announced Thursday. (Charlotte Dumoulin/Radio-Canada)

Plans are on track for the Cargill meat-packing plant in High River, Alta., to reopen Monday after a two-week closure — but some are unconvinced by the province's assurances that the facility is now safe.

"When we heard that the provincial government had given the green light for Cargill to reopen, frankly, I was shocked," said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"I think it's reckless, irresponsible and, I would say, morally repugnant.

"The plant should not open until people working in that plant are satisfied it's safe. It should remain closed."

As of Thursday afternoon, 908 Cargill employees had tested positive for the virus, 631 of whom have recovered. One worker in her 60s has died, and her husband has also contracted the virus.


AFL President Gil McGown said Cargill had yet to include workers in its safety deliberations leading up to the scheduled reopening of the facility on Monday. (Manuel Carrillos/CBC)

The company announced Wednesday that the plant would reopen with one shift beginning May 4, saying that safety measures like new protective barriers and restrictions on carpooling had been introduced.

UFCW local 401, which represents the workers at the Cargill facility, said Wednesday that Cargill had not adopted safety initiatives suggested by the union, and would move to pursue legal action to try to keep the plant from opening.

The AFL's McGowan said Thursday that it was difficult for employees to trust those assurances based on how the process has unfolded.

"They've been sidelined, they've been ignored, and now the same thing is happening — the workers were not consulted on these new measures, and now they're saying everything is going to be fine," he said.

"But how on earth can these workers have any confidence in the measures that have been taken given the track record of both the government and the employer in this case?"

Some employees at the plant previously accused the company of ignoring physical distancing protocols and trying to lure them back to work from self-isolation.
'Extraordinary measures'

Speaking during the province's daily press briefing Thursday, Premier Jason Kenney said he was confident "in the competence of our officials."

"It sounds like they are taking extraordinary measures to ensure that the workers are safe [at] the plant," he said.

"I know there are those folks who want us to take zero risk across society in every instance, but clearly food security and our food supply chains constitute an essential service."


Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said Thursday that once the pandemic concludes, the province would launch a comprehensive study of what happened at Cargill and at long-term care facilities and other meat plants. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

Adrienne South, press secretary for Labour and Immigration Minister Jason Copping, said OHS and AHS officials have been onsite this week and will be again Monday.

Cargill says it has worked with OHS through virtual and in-person tours, and has reassigned lockers to allow for more spacing.

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley, speaking during a press conference held Thursday, said those safety strategies were "bound to fail" without having considered the opinions of employees.

"There is no acceptable risk for a working person. It is not the case that it should somehow be seen as acceptable for over 900 people related to one plant [to test positive]," she said.

"That's not an acceptable risk. This government should see this as a failure on their part to keep these workers safe."


COVID-19 outbreaks at Canadian meat processing plants have led to shutdowns and shift reductions, which could result in less selection and higher prices for consumers. 1:50
Filipino town hall

On Wednesday, provincial and health officials held a telephone town hall with the Filipino community to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has been handled.

Some members of the Filipino community have said they feel unfairly blamed for the outbreak at the Cargill facility, especially after Filipino workers and residents sent a letter to Cargill on April 12 asking for the plant to be closed.

"When you map out the total number of cases, what it looks like is it was likely an exposure that happened at the workplace," said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province's chief medical officer of health, on the call. "And when we track back the cases, there were connections to people who worked in long-term care and some household transmission.

"When I talk about these things, it can sound like we're blaming the people involved … but I don't want people who end up being infected with COVID-19 to ever feel ashamed or targeted."


Cesar Cala, a volunteer with the Philippines Emergency Response Taskforce, said many Filipinos felt like they were singled out and blamed for the crisis at Cargill. (Cesar Cala)

Cesar Cala with the Philippines Emergency Response Taskforce — a network of volunteers that seeks to support crises in the Filipino community — said some fear still remained in the community prior to Monday's reopening.

"Of course, it's a mix of emotions. People really want to go back to work, because it's their livelihood," Cala said. "But there's still a mistrust with Cargill itself … not all of their concerns were answered."