California has been ranked as the state with the highest rate of anti-COVID-19 vaccination in the country, which would mean that it has given a strong setback to the pandemic, however, there are counties, such as Kern, where for various reasons the help and attention does not manage to permeate at all.
And that's because, according to Edward Flores, associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Merced, the Central Valley had one of the largest increases in COVID-19 deaths in the state between 2019 and 2020.
Kern County is known for its vast farm fields where thousands of farm workers risk their lives every day to put food on every table in the country to prevent yet another food crisis, this time a food crisis.
However, it is these essential workers who grow and process the food who today see their health compromised due to fears, misinformation, lack of transportation and mistrust.
While COVID-19 vaccines are more affordable, other factors such as paying rent, avoiding eviction, or keeping the electricity on, as well as getting transportation or simply having enough time in the day, play a role in assertively dealing with a pandemic that continues unabated.
In the face of this, the role of governments will be key to ensure that agricultural and food processing workers are not left behind, even worse off than before the pandemic.
"Farmworkers experienced a much higher risk of death from COVID-19 in 2020 compared to other workers, who are particularly disadvantaged."
During a briefing with the media held by Ethnic Media ServicesThe expert noted that in the U.S., farmworkers continue to have the lowest vaccination rates, "but that's not necessarily the problem in itself. This is just a symptom of the problem, because the full household survey tells us that vaccination rates are indeed the lowest among people who lack health care and who also experience food and housing insecurity.
Thus, the Central Valley had the largest increase in deaths in the state between 2019 and 2020 with a 26 percent rise, and young people are the most affected.
Zooming in on the counties, Flores said that of those 12 counties with the highest increase in deaths between 2019 and 2020, eight of them were in the Central Valley.
Along those lines, Kern County had a 23.5 percent increase in COVID-19-related deaths between 2019 and 2020. Between March and December 2020 alone, the county reported 1,230 deaths, which accounted for more than a quarter of the state's pandemic-related deaths." It was the second-highest rate, second only to warehouse workers," he pointed out. "When we look closely, we see that Kern County had a 37 percent increase in mortality between 2019 and 2020."
Added to that, 67.3 percent of these workers are immigrants who earn low wages, live in rented, overcrowded homes and with children. "There are still some very significant differences between agricultural workers and other high-risk workers because of the social inequality they face.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only fifty percent of farm workers nationwide have been vaccinated. And this figure is much lower than any other core group or non-core workers who have a vaccination rate of 84 percent.
Flores said vaccination rates vary by diet. "People living in households with sufficient amounts and types of food had vaccination rates of 88 percent, while those who didn't have that condition averaged 56 percent.
But food is not the only factor, as lack of access to health care is also a factor. And in those who add these two characteristics together, vaccination levels are 39 percent, Flores said.
"The disadvantages are most evident in people without health insurance and often don't have enough to eat." In addition, people who thought they would be evicted had lower rates of vaccination. And those who thought it was "very likely" they would be removed from their homes in the next two months had vaccination rates of 35 percent."
In view of this, said that improving vaccination rates and reducing the spread of COVID requires more investment in expanding the safety net, which would involve raising wages for undocumented immigrants, extending sick leave, and improving the distribution of rental assistance, especially for tenants who are at risk of eviction.
For Juana Montoya, regional coordinator of the organization Líderes Campesinas, and resident of Arvin, a small farming community in Kern, the conditions faced by thousands of farm workers are not the best.
The daughter of farm workers, she dropped out of high school during her freshman year to work in the fields, due to economic problems: she began picking cherries, blueberries, peaches and peppers.
Juanita, as those who know her call her, knows firsthand how hard it is to work in the fields, even facing the bitter cold and getting sick a couple of times during the pandemic.
Her day, along with that of her husband, begins at 4:30 in the morning, to take public transportation with great fear, not knowing if anyone nearby has had COVID, she denounced.
The impact of the pandemic on women farmworkers has been severe, she said, as many have not yet been vaccinated due to misinformation and myths circulating in their communities and on social media about the vaccine.
In talking to the workers, she says they point out that "there is no chip that registers them, there is no negative effect, there is no loss of fertility, and we build trust with them," which has made some of them change their minds, or at least think about it.
He pointed out that since many of them are undocumented immigrants, they are afraid of getting vaccinated because they have to register with the government, which, according to them, could lead to deportations. In addition, a large majority of these workers do not have access to the internet, not to mention the language barriers.
Montoya added that it is necessary to have transportation to get the vaccine, since many of them do not have the means to travel to a vaccination site and return to work.
Despite the difficulties in getting information to them, teams of health volunteers have been sent to their work sites to answer their questions and provide them with resources.
"For Líderes Campesinas, the best approach to expanding the vaccine has been to bring education and the vaccines themselves directly to the community. We strive for equity, not just in numbers, but in quality of care and encouraging people to make informed decisions, which is why, since the beginning of the pandemic, we have found that a great deal of information regarding COVID-19 and vaccines was and is scarce in our communities."
He acknowledged that Kern County was among the hardest hit counties and that trusted messengers from community organizations are much needed to combat misinformation and fears.
"We are working toward system change so that our communities thrive and protect the public's health."
Margarita Ramirez is a community worker at the Mixteco Binational Center; her job is to speak and provide information about vaccines to farmworkers in Kern, as well as to make them aware of their labor rights.
"This pandemic has affected them because their hours have been reduced, and mainly because they are forced to go to work, even if they are sick with COVID," she said with concern.
He added that the effects have been greater among the Mixtec community, due to the lack of personnel who speak their language. "Mainly because they don't understand their rights and there are many people who take advantage of that, mainly the employers.
He noted that the help from the state government has come only for some, as most do not qualify for the programs, either because they do not have children, or because of taxes, among others.
The misinformation occurs on a daily basis among the workers themselves, she says, because among them they say that vaccines kill, or that if they get them they can become sterile, "or that you're going to become a zombie," so it is important to work in the field and provide them with adequate and accurate information in their own language.
Sarait Martinez is executive director of the Binational Center for Oaxacan Indigenous Development. For her, the disparities of indigenous communities in the U.S. were accentuated by the pandemic.
He recalled that a quarter of the farm workers in the state of California speak indigenous languages, which limits access to information for this community. Many times, messages are translated from English to Spanish, but many of the concepts do not exist for these communities.
"So finding the right terminology and how we explain things is completely different. COVID-19 only exacerbated inequalities."
This, she said, limited aid and resources to financial assistance, eviction, prevention and food security, "even though the resources are there." "It's impossible for our community to navigate and have all the requirements to go through the process, because the institutions are not equipped to serve our community in their language and culture."
In addition, many of the indigenous agricultural workers had no formal education. Therefore, reading and writing is another limitation.
Punjabi community in the food sector of Kern
Naindeep Singh, executive director of the Jakara Movement, recalled that the Punjabi community dates back, at least in the agricultural sector of Kern County, more than a hundred years, where permanent settlements began to emerge in the 1950s and 1960s, linked to some of the largest agricultural enterprises in the area.
He pointed out that the present situation of Punjabi workers is changing rapidly as, although exploitation is also widespread, the youth who used to work as farm labourers have migrated to a new model in the food sector with a focus on marketing of produce.
However, those who tend to still go to farm work are the older immigrant working class, although they are not the only ones, as a large number of young undocumented women work in various food plants.
In terms of how the pandemic has impacted them, he said, at least in Kern County, "it's been kind of a patchwork in terms of what the situation looks like on an individual factor, however, on a macro level, it's more what businesses are doing."
In that sense, he noted that, for various reasons, these companies have flatly refused to make the vaccine available to them, so he considered that ultimately it will have to be a mandate for all employers.
"If we're really going to move the needle on ensuring the health and well-being of our communities, I think that has to go hand-in-hand with language and education as well."
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