A controversial memo released by the House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis found COVID-19 infections and deaths at meatpacking facilities were three times higher than previously thought. Some in the industry say the subcommittee had the benefit of hindsight and unfairly blamed packers for not taking actions that were unproven or unknown to help at the time.
At a hybrid hearing on Oct. 27, called “How the Meatpacking Industry Failed the Workers Who Feed America,” the subcommittee said meat companies failed to put adequate measures in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in their facilities, which led to some of the first and largest outbreaks and high rates of illness and death.
The subcommittee added that at the same time, meatpackers were achieving record profits, while high prices were hitting consumers who were already struggling from pandemic impacts. “Despite these abuses, the Trump administration refused to hold the large meatpacking conglomerates accountable and failed to empower federal agencies to properly protect workers against illness and death,” the subcommittee said in a statement.
In a staff memorandum, the subcommittee said documents obtained from the five biggest meat packers show at least 59,000 meatpacking workers were infected by COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic. This is almost triple the 22,700 infections previously estimated by the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN). The memo also said at least 269 meatpacking workers died from COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Feb. 1, 2021, which is also over three times higher than initially estimated.
“Instead of addressing the clear indications that workers were contracting the coronavirus at alarming rates due to conditions in meatpacking facilities, meatpacking companies prioritized profits and production over worker safety, continuing to employ practices that led to crowded facilities in which the virus spread easily,” the subcommittee wrote.
The memo pointed to specific incidents, such as Tyson telling workers to still come to work in the early stages of the pandemic, workers wearing masks “saturated” with sweat or other fluids, and workers separated by plastic bags on frames as opposed to more substantial barriers.
The memo also said that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) failed to protect worker safety by exercising minimal oversight. The subcommittee said during a staff briefing with OSHA, the agency’s leadership made a “political decision” to not issue a “much needed regulatory standard requiring meatpacking companies to take specific steps to protect workers, limiting the universe of enforcement tools OSHA had at its disposal.”
In response to the memo and hearing, the North American Meat Institute (NAMI)—which represents the meat and poultry industry—released an analysis of publicly available data on COVID-19 transmissions. The group said comprehensive protections instituted since the spring of 2020 lowered transmissions among workers and held current case rates to more than 98 percent lower than general U.S. population case rates.
“Frontline meat and poultry workers were among the first impacted by the pandemic, but publicly available data confirm that comprehensive measures implemented in the sector since spring 2020, including extensive infection prevention and vaccination efforts, have successfully protected the sector’s dedicated and diverse workforce as they have continued feeding Americans and keeping our economy working,” said NAMI President and CEO Julie Anna Potts.
Potts cited data from FERN and the New York Times, which claimed average new case rates in the sector have been similar to or lower than general population rates since the fall of 2020. NAMI also said the University of Nebraska Medical Center found the combination of masking and physical barriers reduced cases significantly in 62 percent of meat facilities studied, and packers have implemented the practices since spring 2020.
NAMI also said surveys of more than 250 facilities employing more than 150,000 workers showed broad implementation of COVID-19 protections, such as entry screening measures, increased sanitation and disinfection, face coverings and physical barriers.
The group also pointed to the meat and poultry industry for being one of the first to urge the Biden administration to prioritize vaccines for essential workers and create facilities providing support for vaccination efforts, such as holding clinics and offering vaccine incentives.
“Meat Institute members remain fully committed to continuing these proven measures and further supporting efforts to vaccinate all frontline meat and poultry workers quickly and safely,” NAMI said. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
