Editor's note: This article ran as the Editorial in the October issue of Meatingplace magazine.

By mid-September, according to Johns Hopkins University and U.S. Census data, one in 500 Americans had died from COVID-19. We now face a surge from the Delta variant, which some experts say could wreak even more havoc than its first cousin.

In covering the first wave, we worked day and night to keep tabs on how the virus was impacting meatpacking and processing plants. We did so with a Google map, and the dots spread like wildfire. But as difficult as that was for us, it cannot compare to how exhausting it all was for plant management and workers.

Nineteen months into this pandemic, the fatigue is real. And it might be partly why we’re not hearing of a Delta spread at meatpacking plants. As of early September, the Food and Environment Reporting Network estimated at least 59,148 meatpacking workers had tested positive for COVID-19, and 298 died. But even they gave up on trying to keep track.

Emotions this far into it are running high, too, manifesting in Congressional probes, new regulatory mandates and some strong industry pushback. And then, speaking for myself, there’s the resultant confusion.

I don’t get why Rep. James Clyburn is just now targeting Cargill and National Beef in a House investigation alleging meatpackers failed to protect workers. I didn’t get it in February, either, when he kicked off the campaign with Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods and JBS USA; by then, infection rates were just under 5 per 100,000 workers — far below the general population’s case load then at 26.15 per 100,000 people.

I’m confused because, after many large plants shut down due to illness outbreaks in the spring of 2020, they reopened. Sure, they did so under President Trump’s executive order, but they did so with an arsenal of personal protective equipment and social distancing practices, among other federally recommended measures, that clearly made a dramatic improvement to the situation.

Which adds further to my confusion. Consider that the meat industry cites such measures for its success in combating COVID-19. Consider also the meat industry’s longstanding advocacy of sound science.

So, when Tyson Foods began requiring vaccinations among its workers as “the single most effective” weapon to protect them, why did the United Food and Commercial Workers, which fights for worker health and safety, initially oppose the move?

And if such measures already in place have proven effective in protecting workers, then, why is the American Association of Meat Processors fighting a USDA mandate for wearing masks in the presence of inspectors? Yes, as the group contends, some areas in a plant can be hot and steamy. Yes, certain individuals wear glasses that can fog up, and others have medical reasons for why they can’t wear masks. And yes, the potential for losing inspection as a result of noncompliance sure does come off like a government strong-arm, if not a threat.

I don’t get, though, the absence in AAMP’s message of any mention of the dangers of COVID-19 and the risks to workers and inspectors. A more conciliatory spirit, like that which later brought Tyson and UFCW to agree on vaccinations, might be more productive.

Ultimately, it takes a public-private effort for the industry to combat COVID-19. Tired, pissed off or confused, that much is clear.

COVID-19: I (hope I) don't get it

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