USDA News Release
FACT SHEET: Update on USDA Activities to Contain the COVID-19 Pandemic
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The National Strategy provides a roadmap to guide America out of the worst public health crisis in a century. It is organized around seven goals.
Coronavirus
COVID on Campus: Containing hot spots a difficult challenge
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When universities across the U.S. reopened and welcomed tens of thousands of students back to campus this fall, students partied in apartments, at pools and on the lawns of Greek houses — celebrating as if COVID-19 did not exist.
Local public health departments and universities alike received thousands of reports about students at over-packed parties and bars where they could be seen maskless, violating social distancing and gathering size limits. Some schools created ways for complaints to be filed.
coronavirus
The Trump Administration told an Illinois health department to leave Rochelle Foods alone. Then a second COVID-19 outbreak struck the plant.
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A May 1 conference call with federal, state and local health officials sent one message: Despite a COVID-19 outbreak amongst it workers, Rochelle Foods was to remain open. This fall, a second outbreak at the plant wasn’t publicly reported.
Coronavirus
How we did it: ‘They think workers are like dogs.’ How pork plant execs sacrificed safety for profits
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With support from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, we deeply examined the outbreak at Triumph Foods, which sickened hundreds of meatpacking workers and killed at least four. Here's how we did it.
Coronavirus
‘Either I Risk It All Or Nothing At All’: Migrant Workers’ Need To Work Outweighs COVID-19 Concerns
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Since June, there have been 21 COVID-19 cases linked to the hotel where an entire crew of migrant workers are living, according to the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, which tracks COVID-19 cases across Champaign County. The hotel is tied for third largest outbreak in the county, based on internal statewide public health data from July through September obtained by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.
Coronavirus
Confidential coronavirus outbreak data shows undisclosed incidents at prisons, workplaces, schools, meatpacking plants across Illinois
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Newly obtained confidential statewide data shows that coronavirus outbreaks in workplaces, schools and prisons are driving Illinois’ rising cases — and many of these outbreaks have never been made public.
Agribusiness
GRAPHIC: There are now half as many dairy farms today than in 2003
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There are less than half of the licensed dairy farms in the United States than nearly two decades ago, according to an analysis of USDA data.
Agribusiness
A week before Trump’s order protecting meat plants, industry sent draft language to feds
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Even as thousands of their employees fell ill with COVID-19, meatpacking executives pressured federal regulators to help keep their plants open, according to a trove of emails obtained by USA TODAY and The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.
U.S. Department of Labor cites Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. for failing to protect employees from coronavirus
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September 10, 2020
U.S. Department of Labor Cites Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. For Failing to Protect Employees from Coronavirus
SIOUX FALLS, SD - The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for failing to protect employees from exposure to the coronavirus. OSHA proposed a penalty of $13,494, the maximum allowed by law. Based on a coronavirus-related inspection, OSHA cited the company for one violation of the general duty clause for failing to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that can cause death or serious harm.
Bayer’s rejection of quick COVID-19 testing resulted in delayed isolation for migrant workers, officials say
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At least eight migrant workers who were infected with COVID-19 waited several days before isolating because the company they worked for, Bayer, declined to pay for expedited tests, Champaign County health officials said.