Virus cases at NC farms are increasing. State will deliver needed PPE for farmworkers

With North Carolina agriculture facing increasing COVID-19 cases among its farmworkers, the state health department announced it would deliver nearly a million masks and other personal protection equipment for the workforce.

“Agriculture is vital to our economy and food supply and it is critical that we protect farmworkers and their families from this virus,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a press conference Tuesday.

Cooper announced that 900,000 masks, hand sanitizers and cloth face coverings will be distributed to farms and agricultural operations through the North Carolina Cooperative Extension and its centers across the state.

There are 285 coronavirus cases total reported across nine farms in North Carolina, more than double the number The News & Observer reported from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in early July.

NCDHHS reports these cases as part of its report on COVID-19 outbreaks in congregate living facilities.

“Many of our farmworkers live in group housing, putting them at higher risk of exposure to COVID-19. Providing masks is one way we are helping to protect workers,” said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen in a press release, echoing concerns The N&O reported March.

The agricultural workforce, most of whom are immigrant Mexican farmworkers on temporary work visas, lives in grower-provided housing like barracks or trailers where social distancing is impossible. They don’t always have full access to transportation to health care facilities or to get needed supplies.

Many of North Carolina’s Latino residents work on farms or in meat processing plants. While they make up less than 10% of the state’s population, they account for more than 43% of the confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Thirty-one counties with farmworkers will receive the first delivery of PPE.

According to a press release, those are: Alamance, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Harnett, Henderson, Johnston, Lee, Lenoir, Lincoln, Martin, Mecklenburg, Nash, Pender, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson, Wake, Wayne and Wilson.

NCDHHS is partnering with N.C. Cooperative Extension, the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the N.C. Department of Labor and the N.C. Agromedicine Institute for this initiative.

“Some of these supplies have been difficult for farmers to source as demand has exceeded supply, ” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “I am grateful that farmworkers and farmers have been prioritized for these much-needed materials. “The health of our farmers and farmworkers is very important because we all rely on them every day.”

The North Carolina Farmworker Advocacy Network (FAN), a coalition of organizations, has made several requests to Cooper and state health officials for more protection of vulnerable farmworkers.

“I think that this is a good step and appreciate the governor is investing time and money in protections that are specific for this vulnerable essential population,” Clermont Ripley, an attorney at the North Carolina Justice Center, said in an email to The N&O.

The N.C. Justice Center is a member organization of FAN. Most recently, FAN expressed concern that the state’s criteria for reporting outbreaks at farms do not include the more than 1,000 farms with fewer than 10 workers.

“The governor issued an [executive order] a couple weeks ago requiring farmworkers to wear masks but I don’t think there was anything in that [order] about where the masks would come from,” said Ripley. “I see this as a necessary follow-up to enabling farmworkers to actually wear masks because they could not be expected to purchase them on their own.”

This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Virus cases at NC farms are increasing. State will deliver needed PPE for farmworkers."