Shelter-in-place orders in California exempt farm workers as essential employees. But many are undocumented, lack health insurance and don’t qualify for unemployment insurance or federal COVID-19 relief.
Before heading out with his crew of farmworkers, field lead Carlos Garcia donned a blue button-up shirt, a jacket, jeans and work boots. He washed his hands before slipping gloves over them.
Carlos Garcia, 73, is being extra cautious amid the coronavirus pandemic because of his age and the fact that he suffers from diabetes. He now wears long sleeves and gloves at all times.,” he said — to the field worker. “God blesses us. We can’t do anything else.More than a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts are grown in California. Shelter-in-place orders in California exempt farm workers as essential employees.
Carlos Garcia washes his hands at an orange orchard near Reedley in the San Joaquin Valley. More than himself, he said he worries about infecting one of his grandchildren if he were to contract the virus. “These inequities that our families are living with, they’ve always been there,” she said. “But when things like the wildfires happen, when things like a global pandemic happen, you really get to see those disparities laid bare.”
But total social distancing isn’t possible. She doesn’t know how to drive, so she depends on her sister-in-law for rides to work.Cruz Lopez said her employer hasn’t mentioned the virus. On an overcast day last week, she picked strawberries while a popular bachata song by Romeo Santos played from a loudspeaker. Some workers were separated by several rows. But one man in blue latex gloves labored in the row directly next to hers.
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