First coronavirus case of a seasonal farmworker in NC confirmed. More are suspected.
The first presumptive positive case of coronavirus in a seasonal agricultural farmworker has been confirmed by a health clinic in Dunn.
The diagnosis by CommWell Health has been confirmed to local farmworker advocacy groups and was first reported by NC Policy Watch and Enlace Latino NC on Wednesday. The farmworker’s date of diagnosis was not provided by CommWell Health.
The patient, a male Latino immigrant farmworker with an H-2A visa, is currently in isolation in farmer-provided housing, CommWell Health told The News & Observer.
The farmworker, according to the clinic’s statement, is already “on the road to recovery” to start work again soon.
“We were contacted by a local farmer who was inquiring about how to address this COVID case with the agricultural worker,” said Chris Vann, vice president of development for CommWell. “We worked with the local farmer to provide education, information and resources to help mitigate further exposure but most importantly to provide the best possible care for that individual.”
Vann said that there are no other suspected cases at this time among workers. He said he didn’t know if other farmworkers at the patient’s work site have also been quarantined.
CommWell Health did not disclose who the patient’s employer is or whether he was contracted by the N.C. Growers Association that brings thousands of H-2A workers to the state.
As the N&O reported previously, COVID-19 poses a risk to the thousands of farmworkers in North Carolina who live and work in close quarters with one another.
In an interview with The N&O, the Dunn-based advocacy group Episcopal Farmworker Ministry said that they suspect coronavirus cases will spike among workers, many of whom already have little access to healthcare or appropriate housing to deal with this.
“If we were doing outreach — but we can’t because of the pandemic — we would hear stories about [more cases],” said Lariza Garzón, executive director of the ministry. “As a ministry, we expect that more and more workers are going to become positive with the virus.”
Garzón said the risk is largely due to that workers aren’t using social distancing or isolation — workers are in constant contact with each other in grower-provided housing with limited transportation.
“I think [coronavirus] is the straw that broke the camel’s back for farmworkers,” Garzón added.
The pressure to help afflicted farmworkers in crises like pandemics or hurricanes is put mostly on advocacy organizations, she said. She wants governments to establish better resources for things like housing and health care access to permanently protect agricultural workers in a crisis.
“We need long-term solutions,” she said.
Hispanic members of Congress are asking for more protections for undocumented farmworkers during the outbreak, McClatchy DC reported, including assurances that they won’t be deported, hazard pay and help with childcare.
Lee Wicker, the deputy director of the N.C. Growers Association, told The N&O previously that farmers were being “proactive” about trying to protect workers and that the association is working to develop a protection protocol on a wide scale.
He said the association plans to isolate any infected workers in grower-provided housing or a hotel and that they are encouraged to work after recovering instead of ending work early and leaving the U.S., he said.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services published interim COVID-19 guidelines for farmers and their workers. Howerver a coaliton of undocumented farmworkers released demands to Gov. Roy Cooper for more far-reaching safety measures.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 2:28 PM.
