BY NAFB News Service | December 29, 2020
A new analysis of independent data for November shows that reported new COVID-19 infection rates among meat and poultry workers were more than eight times lower than the general population.
Data from the Food and Environment Reporting Network says the meat and poultry sector reported an average of 5.57 new cases per 10,000 workers daily in November. Infection rates among meat and poultry workers have declined steeply in the last six months while surging across the U.S. The New York Times reports that during the same period, the average new case rate for the U.S. population was 45.36 cases per 100,000 people per day.
On the morning of Dec. 8, about 30 workers at a George s poultry plant in Springdale, Arkansas, staged a walkout to protest their working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The family-owned company, one of the 10 biggest poultry producers in the U.S., is headquartered in Springdale and also operates processing plants in Virginia and Missouri as well as a prepared foods division in Tennessee, with more than 4,800 employees across all locations. The plant that workers walked out of is one of the company s three plants in Springdale and is not unionized.
The Springdale walkout, which the workers plan to continue until their demands are met, was the first labor action of its kind by poultry workers in Arkansas, said Magaly Licolli, the leader of Arkansas workers justice organization Venceremos. It s significant that it happened in Springdale, one of the country s largest poultry-producing cities and home to the corporate headquarters of Tyson, the country s largest chicken produ
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ New analysis of independent data for the full month of November shows that reported new COVID-19 infection rates amongst meat and poultry workers were more than 8 times lower than rates in the general population.
According to data from the Food and Environment Reporting Network (data), the meat and poultry sector was reported to have an average of 5.57 new cases per 100,000 workers per day in November. Infection rates amongst meat and poultry workers have declined steeply in the last six months, while surging across the United States.
The New York Times (data) reports that during the same period, the average new case rate for the U.S. population was 45.36 cases per 100,000 people per day.