Tanimura & Antle says employee tested positive for COVID-19 [KION TV, Monterey]
Produce company Tanimura & Antle tells KION that one of its employees has tested positive for COVID-19. The employee was sent home to quarantine. … The company said it has taken several steps to protect employees and those they come in contact with from COVID-19. … While no information has been released regarding where in the company the infected employee worked, Monterey County said they are preparing for things to get worse in the fields.
https://kion546.com/news/2020/04/22/tanimura-antle-employee-tests-positive-for-covid-19/
Foster Farms employee in Fresno has coronavirus, company confirms [Fresno Bee]
An employee at a Foster Farms plant in Fresno tested positive for the coronavirus, corporate representatives confirmed on Wednesday, after employees had voiced concerns over their safety. Foster Farms workers were notified on Tuesday that an employee was in quarantine at home after testing positive for COVID-19, the respiratory illness that comes from the new coronavirus. … Foster Farms has followed Centers for Disease Control guidelines to keep employees safe, including hand sanitation and face masks, according to Ira Brill, the company’s vice president of communications.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/business/agriculture/article242204441.html
California’s largest workers’ comp insurer just made it easier to file COVID-19 claims [Los Angeles Times]
… Late last week, California’s largest workers’ compensation insurer lifted a requirement that essential workers afflicted by COVID-19 prove they contracted the virus on the job. … State Fund’s revised eligibility will apply to workers who fit Gov. Gavin Newsom’s definition of “essential employees,” including those in food and agriculture, healthcare and energy sectors, and in emergency services. … Several states, including Kentucky and Illinois, have expanded workers’ compensation access to essential workers in public-facing jobs, including in grocery stores, pharmacies and daycare centers. Other states, including California, are considering similar measures.
Essential workers are being treated as expendable [The Atlantic]
… Farmworkers in the U.S. were struggling long before the COVID-19 crisis, and the pandemic has heightened the paradoxes of their lives. … However, maintaining social distancing on the job is near-impossible for farmworkers, especially in packing houses and the shared buses and carpools that many must take to the fields—and most farmworkers are not given personal protective gear. … Farmworker advocates say that most workers will never receive a $1,200 relief check from the government because many are undocumented, or in the U.S. on specialized visas. Even those covered by union contracts may not get hazard pay.
Farmers are plowing down crops due to COVID-19 restaurant closures [Paso Robles Daily News]
… Central Coast farmers like David Gill of Rio Farms, who earmarked a substantial percentage of acreage to the foodservice industry find themselves with canceled orders and no new markets. … San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau Executive Director Brent Burchett said farmers contract with foodservice suppliers such as wholesale brokers or restaurant suppliers like Sysco. … Burchett also said that these difficult times for farmers can increase the public’s awareness about the importance of agriculture.
As a dying Salton Sea spews harmful dust, Imperial Valley water wars heat up again [Los Angeles Times]
… Tucked away in California’s southeastern corner, Imperial holds a century-old right to one-fifth of all the water allocated along the Colorado River. … Forty million people from Los Angeles to Wyoming depend on the Colorado for drinking water, making the five members of the Imperial Irrigation District board some of the region’s most powerful — if little-known — elected officials. … State and federal agencies are gearing up for crucial negotiations over which cities and farming districts will receive less water — and how much less — during future shortages. And shortages are likely.
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2020-04-23/salton-sea-dust-voters-polls
Opinion: California should not build Temperance Flat Reservoir. The federal government should [Fresno Bee]
… After the Joint Powers Authority (JPA) for Temperance Flat spent thousands of dollars and several years jumping through all of California’s hoops, they were awarded 1/20th of the project’s cost … But Temperance Flat gained something else from the state, too, and that was California’s stamp of approval on the project. With the realization that California has decades worth of opposition to building reservoirs on its record, it now makes sense to take the dam application, submitted and approved by them, to the federal government for help instead. … If we want to see new, major, water storage become a reality, it’s time to shift our focus from decades of pleading with California to standing up and joining forces with the federal government.
https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article242211701.html
