♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> 31 employees of a local farm company have been infected by the coronavirus.

>> I think the average American has no concept of how food reaches our table.

I think there's a huge disconnect with those of us with shelter in place.

>> NARRATOR: From the farms... >> I started getting lightheaded.

My chest starting to hurt.

I couldn't really breathe.

>> NARRATOR: To the factories.

>> They don't show up back to work, they would be getting fired.

>> NARRATOR: Correspondent Daffodil Altan investigates the risk essential workers take to provide America's food supply.

>> How big is this problem?

>> Just in meat packing alone, over 14,000 of our members have been exposed or contracted COVID-19-- 14,000 people.

>> NARRATOR: And what can be done to minimize their risk?

>> The Trump administration could do this now.

Under the OSHA law the federal government can issue an emergency regulation.

They can do that tomorrow, saying employers must protect workers from COVID-19.

>> NARRATOR: Now on "Frontline"-- >> It doesn't feel like we're essential, it feels like we're slaves.

>> NARRATOR: "COVID's Hidden Toll."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> SINTHIA (in Spanish): >> SINTHIA: (phone dialing out) >> SINTHIA: >> MAN (on phone in Spanish): >> SINTHIA: >> MAN: >> SINTHIA: >> MAN (on phone): (Sinthia speaking Spanish) >> SINTHIA: (person whistling) >> SINTHIA: (Sinthia speaking Spanish) >> SINTHIA: ♪ ♪ >> Millions of farm workers now still in the fields across the nation.

>> ...agricultural workers testing positive for COVID-19 is on the rise.

>> At least 10,000 meatpacking workers across the country have been infected.

>> Often facing crowded and unsanitary conditions.

>> With little or no protective gear, their lives, and the nation's food supply, are at risk.

♪ ♪ >> DAFFODIL ALTAN: As millions of Americans were sheltering in place over the past months, we began looking at the toll the coronavirus was taking on those who cannot stay home.

Agricultural workers-- many of them undocumented-- who were deemed essential to the nation's food supply.

I've been reporting in this community for years, and as the annual harvest was starting in California this spring, I was hearing from workers who were daily having to choose between their jobs and their health.

>> ALTAN: Sinthia Hernandez is one of the few workers out of dozens we spoke to who agreed to go on camera.

She's a broccoli picker in the Salinas Valley, a region in California that produces most of the country's leafy greens.

In addition to having cancer, Sinthia has diabetes-- both of which put her at high risk for complications if she contracts COVID-19.

>> SINTHIA: (calls out in Spanish) >> ALTAN: She works for a contractor that supplies workers to farms in the area.

She told me she's expected to bring her own mask to work.

>> SINTHIA: >> ALTAN: When we met Sinthia in April, there were no required COVID protections for farm workers beyond general rules about masks and social distancing.

Even now, companies don't have to tell workers about outbreaks.

>> SINTHIA: >> If one farmworker gets sick, you're going to get a crew, which is typically 30 people, sick.

And if each of those people goes out, they're going to get three to four other people, because that's the infection rate.

And so the thing snowballs.

(birds chirping) >> Good morning.

>> Good morning!

>> ALTAN: Dr. Max Cuevas runs a network of clinics in the Salinas Valley that primarily serves farm workers.

>> And so with my staff, I told them we need to plan.

With whatever little resources we have, we need to plan to make sure that those resources are in fact available.

So we thought, "Let's jump in and let's begin making masks."

♪ ♪ >> ALTAN: Just before dawn, Dr. Cuevas' team was meeting workers as they caught rides to the fields.

>> SOCIAL WORKER (in Spanish): >> MAN: >> SOCIAL WORKER: Okay.

>> WOMAN: >> SOCIAL WORKER: >> When our state and federal governments announced that the farmworker was a part of the essential workforce, included with healthcare, first responders, police, that's not your middle-class essential worker that people are talking about.

This essential worker, a lot of them do in fact live in fear.

They don't want people to know that they're here undocumented.

There's that fear of, "I could be gone tomorrow if I'm taken away.

And what's going to happen to my family?"

It's a horrible kind of fear that people learn to live with.

You try to assure them that, "Don't be afraid of that one right now.

Be afraid of the virus."

♪ ♪ >> ALTAN: By mid-April, the first cases of COVID-19 had been identified in the Salinas Valley, and there were increasing fears about it spreading among farm workers and their families.

>> ROSA: >> ALTAN: It was around this time that we met Rosa Orellana, a truck driver who was worried about what might happen in her family of produce workers.

>> ROSA: >> ALTAN: Rosa's cousins were living with her family and working for a large grower called Tanimura & Antle.

One of her cousins, Osmar, said that although the company gave them masks and gloves, it was still difficult to do the work and not get close.

>> OSMAR: >> ROSA: >> OSMAR: >> ALTAN: Osmar says he heard through co-workers that someone on his crew had tested positive for COVID-19, but his supervisors were not giving them any information about what was happening.

>> OSMAR: >> ALTAN: Without information, and afraid they would get sick, his crew collectively decided to stop working.

Osmar went home to self-quarantine, but he was already coming down with symptoms.

♪ ♪ >> ROSA: >> OSMAR: >> ALTAN: Osmar went to get tested along with his wife and brother, who also worked at the company.

>> OSMAR: >> ALTAN: Several other co-workers also tested positive.

They were among the first farm workers in Monterey County to be diagnosed with COVID-19.

>> ROSA: >> ALTAN: During this time, we were hearing that there were dozens of cases at Tanimura & Antle.

So we wanted to talk to the company about the infections and what they were doing to protect workers.

But they did not respond to our repeated requests for an interview.

>> Local produce giant Tanimura & Antle confirmed one of their employees have tested positive for COVID-19.

>> ALTAN: The company publicly confirmed only one COVID case, and said they had sent those in contact with the sick worker home with paid leave.

When we asked local health officials in Monterey County to confirm the number, they said they do not release information about infections at specific companies.

We received similar responses from other counties in the state.

In fact, it was hard to find much information at all about the overall number of farm workers getting sick.

>> I believe local governments, I believe counties-- especially ag-based counties-- should be releasing any and all data related to infections, outbreaks, because without that information, it's nearly impossible to try to get this virus under control.

>> ALTAN: California assembly member Robert Rivas grew up in farmworker housing, and his district includes the Salinas Valley.

(children speaking Spanish) He told me that even the little data that is available about who is getting sick points to a disproportionate toll in the farmworker community.

>> Latinos make up 39%, almost 40% of the statewide population.

>> ALTAN: But they now account for more than half of all COVID cases in California.

>> And so certainly that is well above the representation of Latinos statewide.

And so trying to understand, you know, how this is impacting our farmworker communities is, is incredibly important.

>> ALTAN: And that's been a growing concern in agricultural communities experiencing outbreaks across the country.

>> 31 employees of a local farm company have been infected by the coronavirus.

>> Southern Valley says 100% of the employees at Henderson Farm have tested positive.

>> Scott's Strawberry & Tomato Farm shut down after more than two dozen of its employees tested positive for COVID-19.

>> This is a once-in-a-century pandemic.

And our workers, they deserve to have laws in place that are going to reflect these incredible challenges that we face.

Our laws need to reflect this new reality.

And something like disclosing potential outbreaks on the worksite needs to become the standard in our state and really in our country.

♪ ♪ >> ALTAN: Agricultural workers in the U.S.-- especially the undocumented-- have long been among the most exploited and the lowest-paid.

In our years of reporting on farm workers, we've found abuses involving children who have been forced to work against their will and women who have been sexually assaulted on the job.

As the pandemic was taking hold, we heard from one of our longtime sources, Maricruz Ladino, a farmworker in Salinas who we first met seven years ago, when she shared her story of being sexually assaulted by a supervisor.

(in Spanish): >> MARICRUZ: >> ALTAN: She's now a dispatcher for a large lettuce grower, and has become an advocate for farm workers by volunteering at a legal aid organization.

(in Spanish): >> MARICRUZ: ♪ ♪ >> SINTHIA: (dishware clinking) >> ALTAN: As infections were climbing in Monterey County, Sinthia Hernandez told me she was worried about family members who, like her, also have underlying conditions.

>> SINTHIA: >> SINTHIA'S MOTHER: >> SINTHIA: >> SINTHIA'S MOTHER: >> SINTHIA: >> SINTHIA: ♪ ♪ >> ALTAN: While the coronavirus was taking hold in the fields, it was already racing through food processing plants across the nation.

>> The coronavirus pandemic is closing down meatpacking facilities across the country.

>> At least 22 meat processing plants already shut down in this country.

>> ALTAN: We heard about a growing outbreak a few hours from Salinas at one of the biggest meat processors in the U.S. >> The Central Valley Meat Company in Hanford, that's about 30 miles... >> ALTAN: Central Valley Meat employs around 700 people at its plant in Kings County.

The company has a history of violating health and safety codes and has been cited for animal abuses, as seen in this undercover footage.

In the last decade, it's had two beef recalls and been shut down three times.

When the virus appeared at the plant in April, workers told us that at first the company did nothing to protect them.

>> When it started, they denied everything.

There was people getting suspended for showing up with a face mask.

A couple of people were actually coughing, and they wore the mask just because they were coughing, and they got sent home.

They used the phrase, "You're scaring the employees.

Your co-workers."

>> Management will say that it's just rumors that someone had posted on social media.

>> A lot of people started missing and then they started calling them and threatening them about their jobs.

If they don't show up to go back to work, they would be getting fired.

>> ALTAN: These two employees spoke to us on the condition that we not disclose their identities, because they were afraid of losing their jobs.

>> In the Central Valley, at least 138 employees tested positive for COVID-19 at a... >> ALTAN: They said it wasn't until the outbreak made the local news that the company began to implement safety measures.

>> After everything came out on the news, everybody was, like, kind of panicking.

>> After the outbreak, they started separating us in, um, different tables, apart.

And then they were providing us with face masks because most of us were complaining.

We were, like, "We need to protect ourselves."

>> ALTAN: According to the workers, more people kept showing up sick every day.

>> People were going in sick, fever, throwing up, coughing.

They asked you at the gate, "Do you have any of these symptoms?"

You tell him, "Yes," okay, you can go right down and go ahead and work.

It's, like, "Shouldn't I go home?"

"Nah, just go ahead and go and work."

>> ALTAN: They worked inside a plant they say looked similar to this one, and that even as the virus spread, the pressure to keep up production continued.

>> We still see people who had came back who are coughing and sneezing.

They don't even cover their mouths, because, you know, they're moving constantly, because the line's, you know, running fast.

And some of them, when they sneeze, the paper towels are kind of far away from them, so some of them, they just wipe it off on their face mask or on their smock.

>> ALTAN: Central Valley Meat declined our repeated requests to discuss the outbreak.

But the company has publicly denied threatening to fire workers or punishing them for being out sick.

In late April, the company sent a note to employees comparing the outbreak to a normal flu season, and saying that "the coronavirus is not some cloud floating around waiting to infect someone," and assured employees that nightly cleaning was killing any potential virus residue.

>> Early on in the pandemic outbreak inside plants, it was chaos, it was fear, it was anxiety.

>> ALTAN: I reached out to union leader Mark Lauritsen, who'd been monitoring outbreaks in plants around the country.

>> Nobody knew exactly what they were dealing with, and that just led to, if you were a worker in a meatpacking plant looking for answers, those answers were hard to come by early on in this pandemic.

>> ALTAN: So how, how big is this problem?

>> Just in meatpacking alone in the United States, over 14,000 of our members have been exposed or contracted COVID-19 because of their proximity to work-- 14,000 people.

And those are just our members.

So you have to, if you look across the entire industry, you're probably looking at a number that's substantially higher than that.

And when you have 14,000 of our members that are, are exposed and sick, that's a tremendous stress on the efficiency of the whole food supply chain in this country.

And quite honestly, if we want to protect our food supply chain in this country, let's protect those workers.

>> Mr. President, on the food supply chain... >> ALTAN: In late April, large outbreaks were forcing plants around the country to close down, until the president signed an executive order that prompted companies to stay open.

>> We're going to sign an executive order today, I believe, and that'll solve any liability problems.

>> When the president said that the, they weren't gonna be closing the meat plants down, everybody got upset, because we were just getting ready to close, at least that's what they were telling us.

>> ALTAN: Both of these Central Valley Meat employees told us that they tested positive for COVID-19.

>> I started getting lightheaded, my body just started aching.

I felt really hot from inside.

My chest starting to hurt.

I couldn't really breathe.

I told my management, I asked them if I could leave.

And then, they were not going to let me go.

They said that if you want to get tested, you will have to go on your own time.

We thought it should be the company's job to take care of us, you know, the workers.

>> ALTAN: By early May, local health officials began testing workers onsite.

>> I know a lot of the people that are sick.

Some work next to me.

Some I see at the break room.

I'll see them in the restrooms.

Yesterday, a co-worker showed up to work and she was coughing.

She told us that she was threatened with her job if she didn't show up to work.

>> ALTAN: Production at the plant never stopped, even as the community around it developed one of the fastest infection growth rates in the country.

>> No, the company never closed.

They didn't even shut down for, not even a day.

Even though if it was 40 people working, we were still killing cows and still working.

>> Every day we go to work, we're thinking about the coronavirus, if we're gonna catch it again.

Who's gonna catch it?

Is it on the walls?

Is it on the product?

Is it on the equipment we use?

>> Up till today, I'm still going to work, even though I'm positive right now.

>> It doesn't feel like we're essential workers, it feels like we're slaves.

>> ALTAN: Nearly 200 workers at the company have tested positive for COVID-19, making it one of the largest outbreaks in the state.

And around the country, it's estimated that at least 35,000 meatpacking workers have been infected, with more than 100 deaths.

With a crisis escalating, state and federal agencies began issuing workplace safety guidelines to employers.

Central Valley Meat told us in a statement that they're now following that guidance, but the guidelines are all voluntary.

>> What that means is, if an employer doesn't want to do it, it's just guidance, you don't have to do it.

And that's not fair to those people that work in that industry who need to have a safe workplace.

The fact is, in, in this industry, there are 65 of our brothers and sisters that passed away, and they passed away because government agencies have failed.

>> ALTAN: The federal agency that oversees workplace safety, OSHA, declined to speak with us, but said in a statement that they're taking steps to address unsafe workplaces, and that the voluntary guidelines were enough to protect workers against COVID-19.

David Michaels, the head of OSHA under President Obama, disagrees.

>> The evidence is very clear that recommendations aren't working.

The numbers of cases of COVID-19 in factory workers, in farm workers, continues to rise.

The recommendations are out there, but we know that they're not being followed enough.

There are some employers who are trying to do a good job, but a lot of them, you know, frankly, aren't.

>> ALTAN: What can federal OSHA do right now?

>> Well, the first thing that the federal government should do is issue requirements.

Issue a regulation saying, every employer must have a plan to make sure workers are protected.

Because if we don't protect workers on the job, we're not going to stop this epidemic.

And workers will pay the high price of that.

The Trump administration could do this now.

Under the OSHA law, the federal government can issue an emergency regulation-- they can do that tomorrow-- saying employers must protect workers from COVID-19.

>> ALTAN: Early on in the pandemic, Maricruz Ladino told us that unlike many companies she'd heard about, her employer was being aggressive about implementing protections.

>> MARICRUZ: >> ALTAN: I asked her boss at Field Fresh Farms about the safety measures they were taking.

>> We had that question from the get-go, people look back, is it a safe place to be?

We sanitize daily, obviously.

In just our normal food safety protocol, we're above and beyond all the third-party certifications we have, just on a day-to-day basis of what we have to do to produce a food item in a package.

So, really, the only step above for us was physically putting face masks on.

Part of it is, you don't want them going home, getting their family sick, other members, young kids, elderly at their home.

And we don't want the people in the crew getting sick, because we, we need a full crew, and if one person gets sick, maybe the mentality of the rest of them are, "Maybe it's not a safe place to be"-- all of the above.

>> ALTAN: And what about in the fields, what are you doing?

>> Fields, same thing.

We are splitting crews, splitting times they come in.

We've had some people, we've offered it, if they wanted to continue to come in or do a shelter at place.

We understand if you want to be at home, and there's a few that chose to stay at home, at least for the two-week period that they initially said they thought it would be.

>> ALTAN: Were they paid?

Were they paid if they sheltered in place?

>> Those... those are not, right now, the people that chose to stay home.

They're laid off and whether they're, you know, it's up to them if they want to seek unemployment or not.

And again, we haven't had anybody... to point that's been reported to be sick anywhere at any, in any one of our entities.

♪ ♪ >> ALTAN: Though there have been no known infections at work, Maricruz is worried because several relatives have already been infected.

>> MARICRUZ: ♪ ♪ (phone calling out) >> SINTHIA: >> MAN (on phone): >> SINTHIA: >> MAN: Uh-huh.

>> SINTHIA: >> ALTAN: For Sinthia Hernandez, her worst fears seemed to be coming true.

>> SINTHIA: >> WOMAN: >> SINTHIA: >> WOMAN: >> SINTHIA: >> WOMAN: >> WOMAN 2: >> Oy.

>> WOMAN 1: >> SINTHIA: (voice trembling): ♪ ♪ >> ALTAN: Over our months of reporting, we heard many stories like Sinthia's about workers feeling pressured by their circumstances and by their employers.

One of those employers was Taylor Farms, a multi-billion-dollar company in the Salinas Valley.

It has 20,000 employees across the country and sells lettuce to retailers like Walmart and Whole Foods.

>> Here at Taylor Farms, the good news is, is food safety has always been a big focus.

>> ALTAN: When the pandemic hit, the company said it was taking all appropriate measures to protect its workers.

>> So a big part of education for us, with all of our team members, was to help everybody understand that we owe it to each other to keep each other healthy.

And as a company, we needed to make sure that people felt comfortable staying home... >> ALTAN: But when an employee tested positive at Taylor's flagship organic packing plant in early May, workers told us the company sent a different message.

>> WOMAN: >> ALTAN: We spoke to this Taylor Farms employee who is concealing her identity because she's afraid of losing her job.

>> WOMAN: >> MAN: >> ALTAN: She shot this video on her cellphone of an HR manager addressing employees who had refused to work.

>> WOMAN: >> MAN: >> WOMAN 2: >> MAN and WOMAN 1: >> MAN: >> MAN 2: >> WOMAN 1: (in interview): >> MAN 1: >> WOMAN 1 (in interview): >> MAN 1: ♪ ♪ >> WOMAN 1: >> MAN 1: >> WOMAN 1 (in interview): >> MAN 1: >> ALTAN: We talked to the manager in the video.

He would not go on camera, but said he was trying to keep people safe and stay productive.

Taylor Farms also declined to go on camera.

In a statement, they said they'd worked hard to maintain the food supply while putting in place expanded health and safety protocols for their employees.

♪ ♪ In the end, all but a handful of the roughly 250 workers returned to their shift that day.

>> WOMAN 1: >> ALTAN: We reached out to the head of the association that represents Taylor Farms, as well other large growers in California.

How familiar are you with what happened at Taylor Farms, or at Tanimura & Antle?

>> Um, you know, Taylor, I'm not-- I'm not.

Tanimura, um, you know, I know what they reported to, to the media based on their statement.

So I'm not, I don't know, like, what goes on within, you know, a company.

We don't have intel in each and every case as to what exactly happened and why and how, or what did an employer do in their reaction.

But where these come up and we learn about them, and at the end of day, we almost always learn, like, that a company where there is an issue, that an issue happened, we take it upon ourselves to engage them.

>> ALTAN: Valadez said his association issued early safety protocols and is part of a unique coalition with local officials, farmworker advocates, and doctors.

But he said he's opposed to companies having to publicly disclose their COVID cases.

>> And I think it's important to see context and significance as important, because it, it can distract from what the company has done to protect their employees, it can distract from the fact that there's no such thing as zero-risk, and so something may happen, and the company may have taken the best, most appropriate steps they could have communicated as clearly and concisely and as frequently as is humanly possible.

The employer could've volunteered to provide housing to this employee, where there is no requirement to do so.

But none of that would get captured.

The only thing that the general public would then know and be able to formulate opinion on is that this employer may have done something wrong, because here we've associated a negative, which is the occurrence of people that are COVID-19-positive to a particular company.

Now, were a company... >> ALTAN: So you're saying that putting that information out there would be negative press for the company, just... doesn't look good.

>> I think in general, yes.

We would expect employers, you know, that, that should have the responsibility to make sure they're clearly communicating with employees to, to educate and help address any fears that, that may result, because we're all living in a situation of the unknown.

♪ ♪ >> ALTAN: As the coronavirus has continued to spread, Assemblyman Rivas has been pushing for workplace safety measures that companies must follow.

>> I expected more from Cal OSHA, I expected more from federal OSHA, to really intervene and to do more in the way of ensuring that there is industry-wide regulations to protect our farm workers.

Unfortunately, farm workers don't have high-paid lobbyists.

Which makes the passage of any significant legislation very challenging, you know, to be quite honest.

>> ALTAN: In the meantime, California's governor, Gavin Newsom, has stepped in.

He's announced measures to help agricultural workers, including enforcing safety guidelines that until now have been voluntary.

>> This is talking about compliance on health and safety in our meatpacking facilities.

One should not have to put their life at risk to go to work as an essential worker.

>> ALTAN: The governor is creating strike teams that will inspect worksites in targeted counties, and could fine companies that are not following the guidelines.

>> Now that we have statewide guidelines in place, now that the governor has made the commitment to enforce those guidelines, is a step in the right direction.

>> ALTAN: But Rivas said the state still needs to do more to understand the scope of the outbreak among farm workers.

>> Clearly, when it comes to COVID-19, this discussion needs to be driven by data.

Who's infected?

Where are they infected?

Why were they infected?

We need to do everything we can to acquire the data that's going to help us make informed decisions, but also create and introduce legislation to address problems.

♪ ♪ >> ALTAN: Some counties are now providing data on agricultural worker infections.

And the numbers are alarming.

Agricultural workers are three times more likely to get COVID-19 than other workers in Monterey County, according to a new analysis by the California Institute for Rural Studies.

And research out of U.C.

San Diego found that in counties across the U.S. where there are more farm workers, more people are dying of COVID-19.

>> I think the average American has no concept of how food reaches our table.

We don't know how meat is processed.

We have no idea where lettuce comes from.

We have no idea how it's harvested.

I think there's a huge disconnect with those of us who have sheltered in place not understanding how those people work and how much they have to work, to make a living and to make it profitable for the company that they're working for.

♪ ♪ >> ALTAN: As for Osmar Orellana, he ended up spending two weeks in isolation with his wife and brother.

>> OSMAR: >> ALTAN (in Spanish): >> OSMAR: >> ALTAN (in Spanish): >> Sí.

>> OSMAR: ♪ ♪ >> ROSA: (water running) >> (on phone): Thank you for calling OptumServe Health Services.

If this is an emergency, please hang up and call 911.

>> (in Spanish): >> (presses button) (hold music playing) >> All of our agents are currently busy assisting other callers.

Please remain on the line and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.

(hold music playing) (phone ringing) >> (on phone): Thank you for calling OptumServe, this is Christy-- how can I help you?

>> Buenas... do you speak Spanish?

>> I do not.

Do you need an interpreter?

>> Yes, please.

>> One minute.

>> (on phone, in Spanish): >> SINTHIA (in Spanish): >> GERMÁN: >> SINTHIA: >> (Germán speaking Spanish) >> GERMÁN: >> (speaking Spanish) >> Wow.

>> (on phone): Thank you so much.

(in Spanish): >> SINTHIA: ♪ ♪ (car door closes) ♪ ♪ >> Go to pbs.org/frontline for more on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on farmworkers.

>> I expected more from Cal OSHA.

I expected more from federal OSHA to really intervene to protect our farmworkers.

>> And listen to our podcast with the producers of this film.

>> I'm Raney Aronson, executive producer of "Frontline," and this is the "Frontline Dispatch."

>> Connect to the "Frontline" community on Facebook and Twitter, and watch anytime on the PBS Video App or pbs.org/frontline.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> For more on this and other "Frontline" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

♪ ♪ "Frontline's" "COVID's Hidden Toll" is available on Amazon Prime Video.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪