Officials are now incentivizing testing, but experts say workers need protective equipment and paid sick leave to prevent further spread
On a US dairy farm, working in the milking parlor can mean seven-day weeks, 12-hour shifts and intimate contact with cows and everything they expel.
“When you disconnect the machine from the udder, it can shoot milk in your face,” said José Martínez, a former dairy worker and United Farm Workers advocate based in Washington state. “And there’s no time or place to eat. So we ate our tacos in spare moments with cow shit on our hands.”
Conditions on US dairy farms are in the spotlight since the H5N1 influenza virus, which has decimated bird populations around the world, jumped species and adapted to spread between cows. That makes dairy farm workers the frontline for spillover infections into humans.
As of 24 May, there are 58 known infected herds across the US. Two human infections have been documented, in dairy farm workers in Texas and Michigan. But there are anecdotal reports of other farm workers with mild symptoms.
Our inability to prepare for the next pandemic is itself horrible.
But infectious diseases aside, this misery resulting from capitalism is horrible too.
Would you ever want any of your children or loved ones to be compelled to work seven days a week, 12 hours a day, working hard physical labor, with no facilities to wash their hands before quickly eating a meal?
If not, would you wish that upon anyone else?
This is truly sad.