As cases surge, California struggles to slow COVID-19 in Latino communities [Sacramento Bee]
… Latinos of working age are getting sick and dying from the coronavirus in disproportionately high numbers. … Can the state and its disparate counties muster the data, strategies and community connections to take the fast and focused steps needed to identify and snuff out COVID-19 clusters in under-served communities? … The state’s emergency preparedness campaign, Listos California, is connecting diverse and vulnerable populations to COVID-19 resources, including in areas where there are large farm worker populations.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article243965407.html
Farmworker housing coronavirus outbreak: 188 test positive for COVID-19 [Ventura County Star]
… Since the outbreak began, advocacy groups have warned of a potential surge among farmworkers in Ventura County … MICOP and CAUSE are now calling on the farm labor contractors to pay the farmworkers for the days they spend in quarantine, to pay for all housing and meals until workers can return to their home country, and to pay for all medical costs necessary for workers with COVID-19, among other asks. … CAUSE and MICOP are also asking the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to direct Public Health and the agricultural commissioner to take a number of actions aimed at protecting farmworkers.
Coronavirus hits nation’s key apple, cherry farms [Wall Street Journal]
… Recent emergency regulations issued by Washington state to curb outbreaks of coronavirus among farmworkers living in temporary housing are slowing fieldwork in Yakima Valley, but the virus is still spreading, according to agricultural employers and the Yakima Health District. … The difficulty of keeping workers healthy in Yakima indicates how hard it has become to safeguard agriculture’s workforce, intensifying questions about how best to prevent outbreaks in labor-intensive workplaces. Growing outbreaks among farmworkers nationwide come as most employers are looking to reduce the threat of outbreaks among their workers and the coronavirus continues to sicken workers at U.S. meatpacking plants.
Central California Food Bank seeing an influx in donors during pandemic [KSEE TV, Fresno]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, local food banks have been hit hard with a steady uptick in clients. … Ryan Jacobsen with the Fresno County Farm Bureau said since the restaurant demand has been low many farmers are now giving more of their crops to food banks. “The pandemic has drained the supply chain which has really complicated how some of our products have made it to market and in some cases, those markets have completed dissipated and therefore we have found a lot of our farmers have found that the outlet for their products is actually the food bank,” said Jacobsen.
Meet the gleaners, combing farm fields to feed the newly hungry [New York Times]
… Gleaning is a hallowed agricultural tradition, traditionally defined as gathering anything left over after a harvest. … Now, gleaning groups are at the front lines of those helping to stabilize the nation’s shaky food supply, perfectly positioned to leverage one problem — a bounty of unsellable crops — to help solve another: rampant hunger. … In San Luis Obispo, Calif., a food bank program called GleanSLO has pivoted from staging fruit-gleaning parties around the Central Coast’s abundant backyard fruit trees, to working the fields at farms that used to sell their produce wholesale to food services.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/dining/gleaners-farm-food-waste.html
Editorial: Pandemic particularly bad headache for California’s small school districts [San Diego Union-Tribune]
… A new survey of 185 superintendents of small California districts shows they face a particularly acute struggle. Some districts in rural communities don’t have universal access to the internet. … Rural districts, which are far more likely than urban and suburban districts to rely on busing, could also see transportation costs double because social distancing mandates require extra bus trips. State leaders have done what they can to insulate K-12 schools from the plunge in state revenue caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But going forward, they need to pay close attention to how all school districts are faring — not just the behemoths like Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified.
