COVID Devastation In Meat Industry Was Underestimated, 269 Workers Died From Virus: Report

The impact of the coronavirus on the meatpacking industry was far worse than previously estimated, according to a report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

According to the report released on Wednesday, at least 59,000 meatpackers from five major meatpacking companies were infected with COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic. Another 269 workers died from the virus from March 1, 2020, to Feb. 1, 2021.

The infection data was reported by Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, JBS USA Food Company, National Beef Packing Company and Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation about their employees during 2020.

The meatpacking industry was an epicenter of the pandemic as several cases of the virus occurred at meat-producing plants and spread outside of the facilities, of which the true effects are unknown. The meat-producing companies were criticized for not doing more to protect their workers against the spread of the virus at the height of the pandemic.

According to the report, the new coronavirus infection figures account for 80% of the beef industry and 60% of the pork market in the U.S., and were significantly higher than what has been reported by the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN), which initially accounted for 22,700 infections among meat-industry workers.

Death among meatpackers was also three times higher than FERN previously estimated for the five meat-producing companies.

U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said during his opening on Wednesday at the hearing, according to The Hill, “Outbreaks in meatpacking plants were also drivers of the spread of the virus in their wider communities, leading to additional infections and deaths among those who never set foot in a facility.”

He continued, “Any argument that these deadly risks to meatpacking workers were necessary to keep food on the tables of American families is dangerous and wrong. We can and we must both keep families fed and keep workers safe.”

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis maintained that the meat industry could have taken more measures to keep workers safe during the pandemic, saying in the report that “meatpacking companies prioritized profits and production over worker safety, continuing to employ practices that led to crowded facilities in which the virus spread easily.”

The report continued to say that the meatpacking companies were slow to implement safety measures to protect their workers, such as adding employee temperature checks or distributing protective equipment such as masks or barriers between work stations.

Responding to the report, Nikki Richardson, a spokesperson for JBS, said in a statement that the company required “facemasks for 100% of our workforce in the early stages of the pandemic, voluntarily removing vulnerable populations while providing full pay, covering 100% of worker healthcare costs related to COVID-19, and conducting more than 80,000 surveillance tests to date.”

Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said in a statement obtained by CBS News, “Even one illness or loss of life to COVID-19 is one too many, which is why we've taken progressive action from the start of the pandemic to protect the health and safety of our workers, including extensive testing and a vaccine requirement that has led to over 96% of our U.S. workforce being vaccinated.”

Smithfield Foods Vice President of Corporate Affairs Jim Monroe told The Hill that the company implemented safety measures “even before any direction from health officials” as the pandemic was an “unprecedented and tragic event.”