While millions of Americans shelter in place, either working from home or newly unemployed, essential workers are manning grocery stores, restaurants, fields and warehouses every day to keep the country fed.
Those workers find themselves on the frontlines of a food system straining under extra demand, with supply chains scrambled – and often without the necessary protections to keep them safe or financially secure. At least 41 grocery workers across the country have reportedly died of Covid-19 and thousands more employees of supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, meatpacking plants and distribution centers have tested positive for the virus.
In California, the governor, Gavin Newsom, on Thursday signed an executive order providing for two weeks’ supplemental paid sick leave for essential food service workers who have coronavirus or have been exposed to it. Some employers in the state have implemented measures to keep workers healthy, supplying extra safety equipment and offering hazard pay. But workers report that others are still leaving them at risk.
These are just some of the many thousands of people on the frontline of California’s food supply working each day to keep the largest state in the US fed, and the unique challenges they face, in their own words.
