A joint investigation by USA Today and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting found 239 meatpacking workers have died from exposure to COVID-19 and 45,000 have contracted the virus.
The investigation also found less than half of the deaths were reported by meatpacking companies to the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). In an email to USA Today, OSHA said it “has received 77 reports totaling 90 fatalities from COVID-19 in meatpacking plants, accounting for less than four in 10 of the deaths noted by the Midwest Center.”
Similarly, of the 65 meatpacking plants where reporters found at least one worker died, OSHA has not inspected 26 to date. OSHA and the meatpacking plants have separately pushed back against the figures.
