The death of a 12th Foster Farms worker from COVID-19 in California’s Central Valley is raising new concerns about safety at such food processing facilities.
The worker’s family said the employee, who was of Punjabi descent and in his 50s, had been called back into the Foster Farms poultry processing plant on Cherry Avenue in Fresno, got sick with COVID-19 and spent the last three weeks in an intensive care unit before dying over the weekend, according to Deep Singh, executive director of the Jakara Movement, a Central Valley youth and family nonprofit that works with the Punjabi Sikh community.
The family said they believe the worker was infected at the plant because the family had avoided going out into the community other than for work or other essential reasons, Singh said.
Singh faulted Foster Farms for a “callous lack of concern and protections that prioritize worker safety and their families.” At least 193 people at the Cherry Avenue plant have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent weeks, about 20% of the plant’s workers, according to the company.
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