Essential but disposable: how California farmworkers battle COVID-19
byJenny Manrique, Ethnic Media Services February 11, 2021
Study reveals the high degree of exposure to the coronavirus in the fields and the profound impact on the economy and mental health of these families.
In addition to high risk exposure to COVID-19, farmworkers in California have borne the brunt of setbacks caused by the pandemic: loss of income and employment, sudden childcare costs due to school closings, problems with distance learning due to poor or zero Internet access, food shortages, housing insecurity and even mental health problems.
The dire diagnosis was compiled in the report “Always Essential, Perpetually Disposable: California Farm Workers and the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a research conducted by the California Institute for Rural Studies and several grassroots organizations.