Now that coronavirus deaths exceed 9,000 in California, health officials in Los Angeles County are investigating a deadly outbreak at a food processing plant in Commerce and issued another urgent petition for companies and employees to report the COVID-19 cases.
The county is examining the deaths of two employees at Mission Foods Corp. in Commerce.
Mission Foods, a leading distributor of tortillas, potato chips, and sauces sold in supermarkets, was one of three food processing businesses that the county closed on Sunday; As of Thursday, 49 employees tested positive. All three companies have since reopened.
Los Angeles County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said Thursday that the two Mission employees were believed to have COVID-19 at the time of their death.
The latest increase in COVID-19 that affected California more than a month ago when the economy reopened has been linked in part to low-wage employees who get sick on the job and then spread the virus in their communities. Essential workers, many of them Latino, have been hard hit both in urban areas like Los Angeles and in farming villages in the Central Valley.
The family of José Roberto Álvarez, who supervised maintenance at Mission Foods and died on July 20 after contracting the coronavirus, criticized the company for not disclosing to its workers the number of employees who tested positive.
Alisha Álvarez, daughter of the 67-year-old deceased worker, said that although her father was notified in May of a positive case, the company did not reveal in the following weeks that more workers had become ill.
“He didn’t necessarily express too much concern because he didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes and how many cases there were,” he said. “He said, ‘I’m hearing rumors that he has such and such,’ but nothing official was ever said to him.”
Messages left at the Mission Foods facility in Commerce and its parent company were not returned.
During a press conference Thursday afternoon, Davis emphasized the need for companies to comply with the county’s health orders. That includes reporting any outbreak of three or more cases and alerting all workers who may have been exposed to a person with a known case, he said.
“Companies have a corporate and moral responsibility to their employees,” said Davis.
The Department of Public Health is investigating more than 1,000 outbreaks of the virus and is receiving 2,000 to 3,000 weekly business complaints. Davis encouraged people to submit information about businesses that may be violating the health order; Complaints to Los Angeles County can be made by calling (888) 700-9995 and can be made anonymously.
“I encourage all members of the public to report suspected outbreaks,” said Davis. “The actions of individual companies and communities have an effect on each and every one of us.”
Latinos in California are becoming infected and dying from the coronavirus at significantly higher rates than white residents. Although Latinos, the state’s largest ethnic group, account for 39% of California’s population, they account for 56% of all coronavirus cases and 46% of deaths. Some of the state’s largest outbreaks have occurred in factories, food processing plants, and farm worker housing complexes, both in cities and in farming communities.
The disparity is striking among Latino residents of all age ranges, including those of working age.
Of Californians ages 50 to 64, 65% of coronavirus deaths have occurred among Latinos, even though Latinos represent only 32% of Californians in this age range.
And among Californians ages 35 to 49, Latinos accounted for 78% of coronavirus-related deaths, even though Latinos in that age range accounted for just 42% of the population. And for California adults under 35, Latinos account for 62% of coronavirus deaths, despite accounting for 45% of the state’s population in that age group.
The largest outbreak in Los Angeles County, which infected at least 387 people and caused four deaths, forced the temporary closure of the Los Angeles Apparel factory in South Los Angeles.
The other two food processing businesses that were ordered to close this week were S&S Foods of Azusa, which produces meat and other food products for large-scale food service companies, and Golden State Foods Corp. of Industry, which produces sauces and others. condiments for fast food. restaurants like McDonald’s.
S&S Foods now has a total of at least 60 cases and Golden State Foods at least 47, according to the county.
The companies did not notify the county once they had at least three coronavirus cases, said Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County director of public health, and the county is calling for better infection control protocols at all three sites.
Food processing facilities and sites that house farmworkers have contributed significantly to the California coronavirus outbreaks.
In the Central Valley, hundreds of workers have been infected at Ruiz Foods, a frozen food packer in Tulare County, and Central Valley Meat Co., a meat packaging facility in Kings County.
In Ventura County, hundreds of farm workers tested positive, in part because of an outbreak in a housing complex that provides farm employers with temporary housing for their workers.
Outbreaks are also a problem in the agricultural heart of California: the Imperial Valley east of San Diego, the Coachella Valley of Riverside County, the Salinas Valley; and the wine country in Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Mendocino and Lake counties.
New coronavirus deaths have increased significantly in the eight-county San Joaquin Valley, a part of the Central Valley that has been hit hard in recent weeks and has a higher percentage of Latino residents than the entire state. For the seven-day period ending Wednesday, 142 COVID-19 deaths were reported; that’s far worse than the comparable Memorial Day period, when 32 deaths were counted.
Davis, the Los Angeles County health official, also implored places of worship to host only outdoor services and refrain from holding indoor events, a restriction ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom on July 13 in the most affected counties, including Los Angeles County.
“Unfortunately, we have heard reports from some religious organizations that operate outside of those health and safety requirements,” Davis said.
Los Angeles County has recorded at least 4,559 COVID-19 deaths, and in the past week has averaged about 42 new deaths each day.
Times staff writers Jaclyn Cosgrove, Maya Lau, and Iris Lee contributed to this report.
