Almost 90% of U.S. meat plant workers with virus are minorities

Published 08 Jul,2020 via Bloomberg News Service (U.S. Edition) - The outbreaks at meat-processing plants across America that sickened thousands and led to beef shortages have gotten worse -- and minority workers have been the hardest hit.

More than 16,200 U.S. meat plant workers had tested positive for Covid-19 by the end of May and 86 had died, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report Tuesday. That’s up from the 4,900 sick workers and 20 deaths published by the CDC in a report from April. Of the cases that disclosed race and ethnicity, 87% involved minority workers -- with employees identified as Hispanic accounting for 56% of infections despite making up less than a third of the overall workforce.

The data, collected from more than 20 states and hundreds of facilities, lay bare for the first time just how dramatically and disproportionately the pandemic has affected minority workers at meat plants, which have become hotbeds for the virus since the pandemic took hold earlier this year. The outbreaks forced several plants to temporarily close, leading to supply shortages across the nation, before the Trump administration issued an order in April to keep them open.