A Pew Charitable Trusts story a few weeks ago observed that during the past heat waves, many farmworkers and others exposed to the elements died of heat-related injuries. The New York Times cited CDC excess deaths statistics to charge that Washington and Oregon were reporting only a third of the actual number of heat-related deaths during the recent heat waves. NPR is reporting that OSHA does not keep proper records for heat fatalities, so the true number across the country is unknown.
What is known is that Hispanic workers are disproportionately the victims of heat-related injuries. Juley Fulcher of the advocacy group Public Citizen, was quoted “In a lot of places, farmworkers don’t get breaks, they don’t have water provided, they don’t have shade. It’s crazy to think about working a 12-hour day under those circumstances.” And people wonder why “Real Americans” don’t want to do those jobs.
Pew reported that only four states have some semblance of safety standards for heat-related conditions, with California the only state currently with permanent safety standards in place for outdoor workers. Washington and Oregon put in place emergency standards this summer during their heat waves, and Minnesota only covers indoor workers for heat conditions. While OSHA has some authority to enforce safety standards, naturally this has not been done because of opposition from private industry.
OSHA’s recent fines against companies where farmworkers died from heat-related injuries were overturned by a D.C. judge who didn’t think Hispanics were real people, claiming that conditions that caused heat fatalities was not a “recognized hazard” under OSHA’s “general duty clause,” and ruling outrageously that “a lack of a specific heat standard created a higher burden of proof for the agency to show employees were endangered.”
Pew did note that Washington and Oregon were in the process of strengthening safety standards, but that was technically only true of Oregon, whose rules mandate the supplying of water, shade and rest periods when temperatures reach over 80 degrees. Washington’s proposed heat standard only requires water, shade and rest periods when the temperature reaches 100 degrees. But at least that is more than nothing—except that it doesn’t hit 100 degrees every day around here.
And what else about the state of Washington? This is from the state’s COVID-19 dashboard:
According to this, Hispanics make up 13 percent of the population in the state, but 32 percent of the COVID cases; in fact the state ranks second in the nation in infection rates for Hispanics. What is even more “shocking” is that the “only” 12 percent of deaths is almost certainly a significant undercount. In California, Hispanics represent 39 percent of the population but 54 percent of the deaths, while in Texas they represent 37 percent of the population, but 46 percent of the deaths from the virus; in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ pandemic non-response for farmworkers is being charged as a “death sentence” for them.
Although the CDC’s numbers seem to indicate no significant higher rate of death for Hispanics per their population, even it admits that these numbers are questionable, with weighted population density figures suggesting almost double the rate. Another reason why Washington’s death figures should be questioned is that CDC statistics show Hispanics have died of COVID in higher raw numbers than either whites or blacks in their prime years:
Anti-Hispanic immigrant fanatics always claim that migrant workers are only here to “steal” your public services, but that is simply another Trump-Nazi lie. The Seattle Times reported that “Latinos historically have faced impediments to health care, including a lack of health insurance, language barriers and fear of deportation that experts say are contributing to elevated exposure of COVID-19.” Of course it could have been mentioned that Hispanics tend to work in “essential” jobs (including food processing plants) that require close contact.
Further, “Latinos are disconnected from the health care system for many reasons,” according to a Dr. Leo Morales of the University of Washington. “They don’t have regular health providers, or they may avoid it if they think it threatens their ability to live in this country. And the cost of health care is tremendous.” Even in “liberal” Seattle, Hispanics have four to five times the infection rate of whites.
Low vaccination rates are of course an issue, as Hispanics are fed the same misinformation as everyone else. Take for instance a maternity ward in a Lewis County, New York, hospital, where six members of the maternity staff resigned because—get this—they are anti-vaxxers and were protesting the state’s vaccination mandate for health care workers. Of course, anti-vaccination health care workers are being hailed as “brave” by people like this:
"Stupid" would be the more appropriate observation. Meanwhile, Gov. Jay Inslee has put up a good front visiting farmworkers and trying to convince the hesitant to get vaccinated, as well as signing a law banning discriminatory practices (such as not paying overtime) against farmworkers during the pandemic. But the Tri-City Herald, which represents an area heavily populated by farmworkers, reported that while most Hispanics do want to be vaccinated, there seems to be, according to community health worker Aida Hildago, a general lack of empathy for these people to help them overcome obstacles to get access to vaccinations, or even to provide them with the information they need.
A University of Oregon study also revealed that “farmworkers struggled with mental health challenges triggered by things like the loss of income, inability to pay bills, disruption of financial help they send to relatives in their home communities, and difficulties providing education to children at home during the pandemic, especially for indigenous people who speak languages other than Spanish. Many farmworkers reported symptoms related to anxiety, stress and depression, but the majority of respondents (91 percent) also reported that they have no access to mental health treatment”—all of which is “borne in the backs of people who are putting food on our tables.”
There is no excuse for this in so-called “blue” states. In their own states, Republican governors claim they are not playing “politics” with COVID, but they are: they know that minorities are disproportionately affected, and the more that die, just that less Democratic voters there are (OK, a “conspiracy” theory, but that is in fact the net result of this). The other truth is that Hispanics are just not getting the “message.” Latinos represent one-sixth the population (probably closer to 20 percent if you count the “uncounted”), yet they are almost completely absent from the conscious of the mainstream media, including advertisers.
National media and cable news outlets apparently feel that Hispanic representation should be left to Spanish-language media (which is mainly "white" Hispanic too), because they are not "real" Americans; they otherwise don’t exist, save to bemoan the border “crisis.” Their lives, well, just don’t “matter.”
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