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Why is it contagious?
Humans are infected with coronavirus through droplets of respiratory secretions in the air. They can be excreted by coughing, sneezing, or exhaling from an infected person.
“Factories, and especially cold and wet environments, are the perfect environment for the coronavirus to survive and spread,” Lawrence Young, a professor of molecular oncology at the University of Warwick, told the BBC.
“The virus droplets from infected people are easier to spread and stay alive,” he said.
VIDEO: Facts and myths about the spread of the coronavirus
According to the professor, another cause of outbreaks in meat processing plants can be noisy equipment that makes people speak or shout louder. And this can increase the spread of infected drops.
Also, in meat processing plants it is difficult to keep workers two meters away when working on a fast moving production line. The BBC writes that lack of sunlight can help the virus survive.
“When people stand next to each other working hard, because it is hard work, and breathing deeply, there is a chance that the virus will spread from a single infected person to many others nearby,” said Tara Smith, a professor. epidemiology, to the station.
“And of course, then the domino effect begins.”
Is the food becoming unsafe?
There is no evidence that meat products from processing plants where a coronavirus outbreak occurred are a source of COVID-19.
According to the UK Food Standards Agency, it is highly unlikely that the coronavirus can be transmitted through food.
Virologist Angela Rasmussen told Forbes that “meat is not likely to be at high risk of infection.” “There is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted through food,” he said.
Forbes wrote that potentially harmful microbes are effectively killed by heat and do not pose a risk to humans.
“Any virus in the packaging is likely to be harmless when the meat reaches the stores,” Rasmussen said.
“Conditions like slavery”
Not only the working conditions within such plants can increase the risk of coronavirus infection.
Photo from Scanpix / SIPA / Meat Processing Plant in Guetersloh, Germany
“Some factories in or near your complex provide a place to live when there are multiple people living in each bedroom. They can be taken by bus from home to work, then they can spend the whole day indoors together, ”researcher Michael Head of the University of Southampton told the BBC.
The union says meat processors often hire immigrants, who don’t necessarily have a fully-paid incapacity for work, and that they would lose money if they got sick and isolated.
It is said that often their first language is not English, they are concerned that they may lose their job and are therefore reluctant to speak about the disease.
The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) said that most of the workers at the plants were recruited directly rather than through agencies.
“The entire sector is in a terrible race to the bottom. They are driven by the market and consumer demand for cheap meat, ”Peter Schmidt, head of international affairs for the German food workers union, NGG, told The Guardian.
ZUMAPRESS.com/ Employees of meat processing plants in Germany
According to Schmidt, modern factories in Germany employ Eastern Europeans on fixed-term contracts who are determined to work for low wages.
“The working conditions in these factories are the worst: cold, everyone works side by side at high speed. They are housed like in times of slavery. When we look, we see that people have to share beds,” Schmidt said.
The UK government has put forth guidelines on how to ensure job safety at food processing plants. Among them are recommendations to guarantee a distance of at least two meters between employees.
The BMPA recommends cleaning factories more frequently than usual, isolating symptomatic workers, allowing workers to start work, and having lunch at different times.
The entire area is closed.
The Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN) estimates that nearly 30,000 people in the United States and Europe are infected with the coronavirus. workers in meat processing plants. More than 100 of them died.
The closure of the Guetersloh district in Germany was announced on Tuesday, where a major outbreak of a new coronavirus occurred at a meat processing plant.
At the Gueterslo meat processing plant, more than 1,500 people tested for coronavirus infection. almost 7 thousand. workers
Photo from Scanpix / SIPA / Meat Processing Plant in Guetersloh, Germany
The same day, due to an outbreak of coronavirus at the slaughterhouse, quarantine was resumed in Warendorf County.
A coronavirus outbreak also occurred at a UK chicken processing plant in Angles, where more than 150 workers have been infected with the coronavirus. Outbreaks have also been reported in Rexam and West Yorkshire.
Outbreaks have also been identified in meat processing plants in France, Spain, and the United States.
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