It’s not clear if any such protection will be forthcoming, though. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor did not immediately answer questions Monday about whether workers who are talking to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, part of the Department of Labor, would be safe from deportation.
Of the six workers who died Thursday after the nitrogen leak at the Foundation Food Group plant northeast of Atlanta, five were Mexican citizens. It’s unclear if any of them were in the country illegally. But that and other plants in Gainesville, the hub of Georgia’s mammoth poultry industry, rely on a heavily Latino workforce - often a mix of people with and without legal status.
How to help those affected by liquid nitrogen leak at Foundation Food Group in Gainesville Candles and flowers are left along Centennial Drive near Foundation Food Group Friday, Jan. 29, 2021, in memory of the six who died from a nitrogen leak at the plant. - photo by Scott Rogers
Several efforts have been set up to help the families of the six people killed and others injured in the Jan. 28 nitrogen leak at Foundation Food Group in Gainesville.
One of the first efforts organized was a GoFundMe account is to “support the medical, legal and family expenses of impacted families,” according to the page.
The United States will likely record 400,000 deaths from the coronavirus this week. This as a more contagious variant makes its way across the country. Daily COVID-19 hospitalizations averaged more than 100,000 this month. We re having to treat people in the hallways and also in the ambulances, said Dr. Deepak Aggarwal, who works at Northeast Georgia Medical Center.
Health experts see the vaccine as their best hope to get ahead of the pandemic. It s off to a slow start, however, as fewer than half of the 31 million doses distributed have been administered.
President-Elect Joe Biden vows to turn things around and vaccinate roughly one-third of the country by the end of April. His incoming CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said Sunday she thinks that goal can and will be realized.
By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism. District 2 Public Health receives first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine, will hold clinic for EMS workers next week Hall County EMA Director Casey Ramsey is working with the Department of Public Health coordinating how nearly 1,000 frontline EMS, fire and police employees are going to get vaccinated for COVID-19 as doses are expected to arrive. - photo by Scott Rogers
District 2 Public Health received its first shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Friday, Dec. 18, and plans to hold a clinic to vaccinate EMS workers Monday, Dec. 21, in Hall County.
Beginning to an end of a pandemic - Northeast Georgia Health System begins administering COVID-19 vaccines to staff Staff members at Northeast Georgia Medical Center show off their arms after receiving the first round of COVID-19 vaccinations Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. - photo by Nick Watson
Seven Northeast Georgia Health System frontline health care workers pulled up their sleeves Thursday, Dec. 17, and flexed after receiving the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. John Delzell, the incident commander at the health system, said he sees these first doses as “hope for the light at the end of the tunnel.”
“I feel like it’s the beginning to an end of a pandemic,” said Tamika Johnson, the charge nurse in the mobile medical unit who received one of the first doses.