Another employee of the American poultry company Foster Farms died of complications from COVID-19 last weekend, making him the 12th employee of the California-based company to die after contracting the coronavirus.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the employee’s family said that the employee, who was of Punjabi descent and in his 50s, worked at Foster Farms’ Cherry Avenue factory in Fresno, California.
After being diagnosed with COVID-19, the man spent the past three weeks in the intensive care unit of a local hospital before passing away, according to Deep Singh, executive director of the Jakara Movement, a youth and families nonprofit organization. Central Valley that cooperates with the Punjabi. Sikh community.
Singh told the Times that the employee’s family thinks he contracted the virus at work because he avoided going outside his home other than going to the factory or for other essential reasons.
The man is the third Fresno plant employee to die of COVID-19, with nine additional fatalities from the coronavirus associated with Foster Farms’ Livingston, California plant.
At least 193 people at the Fresno plant have tested positive for COVID-19, about 20 percent of the workers, according to Foster Farms.
Singh said the poultry farm should have done more to protect its employees, accusing the company of a “heartless lack of concern and protection that prioritizes the safety of workers and their families.”
The company has also been criticized for communicating poorly with its employees and providing directions in English, even though many of the company’s employees have limited language skills.
Foster Farms had previously been under scrutiny for its handling of the pandemic, with community leaders telling the Times that the company has asked its employees to work overtime during the pandemic.
Days before Christmas, a Merced County judge admitted a temporary restraining order from the union United Farm Workers of America against Foster Farms.
According to the order, Foster Farms was to provide the workers at the Livingston factory with face masks and require the workers to wear these when social distance is not possible, The Associated Press reported.
The order also required the company to have temperature and health screenings for employees and visitors before entering the plant, as well as physical distributors in break rooms and along production lines.
In response to the most recent passing, Foster Farms said in a statement to The Hill, “We are saddened by the death at our Cherry Street factory and cannot provide further details out of respect for the family and loved ones.”
“Our positivity rate at the plant has continued to decline since mid-December,” the company added in a statement. “By testing all employees twice a week, we now have a positivity percentage of less than 1%. This compares to a Fresno County positivity rate of more than 10%. “
Foster Farms had temporarily closed its Livingston factory early September after an outbreak that led to nearly 400 coronavirus infections and eight deaths.
An outbreak two weeks ago at the Fresno plant also caused the plant to be temporarily closed, although it was later reopened, the AP reported.
– Updated at 9:06 PM