A couple weeks ago we saw obscene images of dairy farmers discarding milk, and vegetable growers plowing over tomatoes intended for restaurants that have been shuttered, all while thousands of hungry Americans waited in line for handouts at food pantries.
Now, a similar juxtaposition of images seems to be playing out with chickens being gassed and pig sows aborted after meat packers were forced to shut down because workers are sick and dying from Covid-19. Except this time, the commodity system’s crisis points up a huge looming challenge for the entire country as it tries to re-open: What responsibility do businesses have to protect workers in close quarters from contracting Covid-19? In other words, can companies be sued when they fail to provide adequate protections? Can they pass the buck to a government that stumbled and bungled for months and is still unable to provide full-scale national testing that would enable businesses to screen workers and job applicants?
The ultimate question is this: Will workers and their families retain the right to sue companies that fail to provide adequate safety and other protections as workers return with the Covid-19 still a big threat?
I got a sense of this conundrum on Monday, when I received a press release from a large national law firm, Laphrom GPM, that stated: “As businesses begin to reopen and employees return to work, companies may be held responsible if an employee or customer becomes infected with COVID-19. In the coming weeks and months, companies can expect to see an increase in the number of tort litigation cases, particularly those involving wrongful death claims, where individuals allege negligence or even intentional infliction of emotional distress. Businesses that have a high concentration of employees working in close quarters are even more at risk.” The firm offered its lawyers as experts for media interviews.
Which leads back to the collapsing commodity food system. On Tuesday, the White House announced that President Trump was “taking all appropriate action” via an executive order to keep the nation’s corporate meat companies operating, after more than 20 had shut down for various periods because workers became sick or died with Covid -19.
Tyson Foods, one of the major corporate meat companies, put out full-page newspaper ads over the weekend warning that the nation’s food supply was in danger.
Of course, there was a subtext to this unfolding horror story: Tyson and others are glad to reopen, and force workers back on the line….so long as the workers can’t sue when they die from Covid 19. Trump’s executive order apparently danced around this issue, according to the NY Times story: “As states begin reopening, businesses have begun pushing the Trump administration and Congress to shield American companies from a wide range of potential lawsuits related to restarting the economy. Companies want assurances that they will not be held legally liable if a worker or customer contracts the virus at their warehouse, coffee shop or grocery store.”
What will the Washington pols decide to do? The question will likely be decided as part of a new aid package to states. Apparently, suits have already started, from cruise ship passengers and Walmart workers sickened by Covid-19.
America’s meat companies have always been marginal operations in terms of the quality food they supply and the damage to worker and environmental health they cause. Increasing numbers of Americans in recent years have been seeking out suppliers who raise their animals without GMOs and antibiotics, and who also slaughter humanely. While it’s tempting to simply suggest this pandemic be used an excuse to let the commodity companies die a quiet death, unfortunately, they provide many thousands of jobs and many lAmericans a supply of cheap protein.
My guess is profits will win out, as they usually do, and meat workers along with many others will have a grim choice: face a serious risk of contracting Covid-19 without any legal rights, or don’t work. That additional menace could have been avoided had the U.S. done what dozens of other civilized countries did: get on top of this pandemic in February and March with a viable national testing program that would have enabled businesses to avoid playing Russian roulette with their employees.
“How Will History Treat The Coronavirus Lockdown? With Prof. Denis Rancourt”
Former University of Ottawa physics professor Denis Rancourt answers key questions related to the coronavirus outbreak. “Does a national lockdown make any sense? Why did the scientists that governments listen to seem to get the numbers all wrong? And why have other scientists who challenged the accepted wisdom been silenced and ignored? What are the numbers? Why is the media only interested in bolstering government rhetoric, no matter how incorrect it proves to be? And, very importantly, why did state and local authorities take measures that almost guaranteed that senior care facilities would see more widespread suffering and death than necessary?”
Ken, there are definitely a number of people, including scientists, with strong opinions. The problem with incorporating a variety of views is that this situation was a crisis, and during a crisis governments need to decide on a particular response and go with it; there isn’t time to organize conferences and hem and haw. I’m not sure the media is interested in bolstering the government rhetoric as much as reporting it. The media are the messengers, remember. I respect this guy’s view. The big thing, as far as I’m concerned, is that this pandemic isn’t yet over. And it’s not clear we won’t have a second wave, as occurred during the 1918 Spanish flu.
A “crisis” … based on whose perspective?
What has predictably resulted from these lock-downs is unconscionable…
With respect to the current testing you say is important and needs to be done, you should consider this article written by Mary Holland, Attorney and Vice Chair and General Counsel for Children’s Health Defense…
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/news/coronavirus-and-infection-control-whats-going-on-with-testing/?utm_source=salsa&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=e93b9ba2-e91a-47d9-a13a-f2288a389fee&fbclid=IwAR2jEg1fxc97N7UVtQFJ60yRKe906OgKFZtHiGW2YRWPxgMXozSc7nF2KwM#
In the article, Holland refers to correspondence by Dr. Sin Hang Lee to Dr. Margaret Harris and Dr Eduardo Guerrero of the World Health Orginization and Dr Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “ to explain why the current tests to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA are generating false positives and negatives”. She also states, “Dr. Sin Hang Lee is a pathologist and research scientist based in Connecticut who has been producing molecular tests for diseases and conditions for many years, including Lyme disease and human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. Dr. Lee trained and taught in some of the world’s most prestigious institutions and has published scores of scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals… it is almost unbelievable that as of April 27, Dr. Lee has received no response from either the WHO or NIH. He has similarly reached out to the Connecticut Department of Public Health to receive patient samples for further validation testing. The Connecticut Department has stopped responding to Dr. Lee’s emails and phone calls.”
She provides a link to Dr. Lee’s correspondence and states, “Please read Dr. Lee’s March 22 letter and decide for yourself if these agencies are serving the public interest or if perhaps they are serving competing or corrupt interests instead”.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/04-30-20-Letter-to-WHO-and-Dr.-Fauci.pdf
it wasn’t categorized as a “crisis” “pandemic” etc. until the syndicated media took hold of the narrative and ran fear-porn, 24 hours a day 7 daze a week, pummeling hysteria in to the group mind
addressing your qvestion re > ‘liability of employers when workers who go back to their jobs?’, Peter Schiff says it well in his latest podcast : this is no different than every other aspect of employment posing potential harm. Chances of a given individual dying from the CoronaMadness is less than that person being struck by lightening
is it the responsibility of an employer to insure every employee against being involved in a car accident on the way to work? Is it the role of the NannyState to coddle every single person who heads out the door to work, from every eventuality?
One of the defining characteristics of the white Christian America in which I grew up, was = past tense = self-reliance.
when the pendulum swings, it swings ALL the way back. This crisis is one gigantic cleansing action … a re-set of the US fiat currency. CoronaMadness is just a distraction
“We are suffering from a media epidemic!” Dr. John Oxford, English virologist and Professor at Queen Mary, University of London
Without a total destruction of the press, we will never see a just society in the U.S. I have been doing quite a bit of reading about the tests. The CDC does SARS-COV-2 nucleic acid testing. There is no Covid-19 virus, it is the name given to some symptoms. Then there are antibody tests, which are not diagnostic tests, and only indicate that a person has likely been exposed to any number of viruses over a couple weeks or more ago. So, what tests have been given in the meat plants, to create this fake shut down? The press are experts at deception, so they are very careful how they word everything to create fear, and gloss over the absurdity of their claims. I have every reason to believe that there will be a second wave, because our “leaders” and their spokespeople have told us so. It will very likely be more deadly, and will likely be a different pathogen, since any non-corrupted expert knows that corona viruses are less lethal than the flu. This is a very well planned operation, with the privately owned Federal Reserve consolidating more asset purchases around the world, and bailing out (nationalizing) most industries, while it prints helicopter money to prop up the stock market; all under the cover of a pandemic. Whole businesses will be lost, people will be impoverished, and the food supply will be compromised. I suggest people study what happened during the Bolshevik revolution in Russia to study how starvation can be used in their destruction of society, for a world of their own.
“Control oil and you control nations, control food and you control the people.”
Henry Kissinger
“Food is power. We use it to change behavior. Some may call that bribery. We do not apologize.”
Catherine Bertini, UN world food program executive director, 1992-2002
For those looking for possible answers (at east to raise good questions), and for a confirmation on most everyones take that Fauci and Birx are deep state, I found this researcher’s claims informative.
#COVID19 is caused by vaccines | Dr Judy Mikovits, PhD
Thank you for another thoughtful article.
The entire meat production industry in America has always been repulsive to me. Local farmers not being able to harvest their animals in a less stressful and humane way while these 3 meat processors abusing workers and animals.To me those who abuse animals also abuse people. The workers in these processing plants are immigrants because there are few Americans who will do this job. Years ago I read about ICE going up to Smithfield and removing some, but not all of the immigrants only to be replaced by other immigrants. I read about the vans going into Mexico to recruit workers.
Since 9/11 it was evident that terrorists could easily collapse the food chain in the USA. Big Agra with all there monoculture growing only one product also a stupid idea, environmentally and In sustainability. The pollution on the environment is greatly contributing to the climate crisis. We cannot be healthy on an unhealthy planet.
I recently watched the new documentary “ Planet of the Humans”. I cried at the end. I was angry at the big corporations decimating the earth all for profit. It’s always been profit over people. We are going to suffer more viruses as habitat is destroyed which kept us from these zoonotic sicknesses.
The system isn’t broken, it never worked in the first place.
how do you like your 60-day free trial of communism?
a major factor in that broken system, was = reliance upon stoop labor imported from the 3rd world. This crisis proves what critics of illegal immigration were saying for decades > the invaders work for less with result that white Americans stayed home, rather than trade their lives for pittance.
URL for a short article giving the facts of conditions in the meat biz.
https://www.amren.com/commentary/2020/04/notes-on-the-coming-meat-shortage/
but not to despair : in this medical martial law, human beings will do what they always do, regardless of the police state conditions. The underground economy will thrive. Black market also known as “the free market”.
I am not one bit sympathetic : morbidly-Obese America can stand a good belt-tightening in every sector
Interesting question, not ever a good answer.
If the health professionals stop working, the country can still keep going. If food production stops… then the country is in big problems and comes to a grinding halt.
Have you ever been inside a large scale slaughterhouse? The humidity levels and the line systems are impossible to make corona safe. Water is an integral part of slaughtering. I have seen some US slaughterhouses and I was appaled at the distance between workers, and how the production lines were Close to each other. I was of course, looking at a veterinary inspector in terms of food safety. But I noted that many workers did not have a segregated work station, where they even had easy access to the knife desinfection bath. Most US slaughterhouses desperately fail the EU standards, because they can not guarantee food safety… not to talk about the safety of workers.
If slaughter houses shut down, then we have huge animal suffering. Broiler and pigs can not wait to be slaughtered, there is no back-up system. Mass extermination at farms will give huge challenges with epizootic disease spread. The system can not be acutely shut down.
Even extermination and culing at the farm has huge challenges. I worked some on animal composting in 2006, when the heat wave in California made it impossible for the rendering companies to pick up all dead cattle due to the heat… Huge problem.
If animal slaughter is backed up, it can lead to reduction in food safety and increased risks when slaughter starts up again. In 1957 in Sweden, after a strike at a slaughter house in Alvesta, the animal slaughter went at higher speed… at a time when a Salmonella contaminated herd was slaughtered. In the small town of Alvesta, with 7000 people, there were several hundred that died. (This was the trigger point of the Swedish Salmonella Control programme, where we thereafter eliminated Salmonella from food-producing animals).
Thus, this disease, that nonetheless is not fatal for most people, can cause higher mortality and suffering to humans and animals than the disease itself, and now it is doing this.
I was in Hungary before the epidemic had come there. I visited a poultry producer. They were busy making safeguard plans for their workers so that they could ensure continued operations in face of the epidemic.
Again… I fear that the inability of USA to mount a timely coordinated appropriate response will ultimately lead to the gradual destruction of once a great empire. …. And meanwhile USA people are trying to find out how they can sue… sad indeed.
Cat.
Cat, thank you for such a lucid explanation. It sounds like one of those damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situations. Part of the problem, as you suggest, is American meat plants have poor worker safety provisions to begin with. And that situation has likely deteriorated in recent years because the current administration has been intent on reducing safety regulations in all areas of oversight. It’s nearly impossible to fix such things overnight; shutting down the meat plants to make fixes would lead to the system backup problems you refer to.
Given the refusal of the politicians to push for safety, workers who are endangered have only one recourse to encourage better safety, and that is to sue. As you suggest, America has aggressive lawyers, and that is one of the best incentives to companies to improve safety. But now the executive order appears to forbid workers from suing. In effect, the meat workers are being forced to return to work without any rights or leverage to push for safety, nearly as slaves.
So what may well happen is that there won’t be enough workers to run the meat plants. If workers decide that they don’t want to risk their lives in the current pandemic, the plants may be forced to shut down. That is what is going on right now. It may change, since America now has 30 million unemployed, so it may be they will find enough workers desperate enough to earn money to feed their families and keep the plants open.
I share your fear about the ability of the U.S. to mount a timely coordinated response to this pandemic. There has been unimaginable incompetence in too many areas.
Lucid in the sky with diamonds. Did you happen to catch the new Beatles special? Truly special especially watching/hearing John now that he’s gone forever and wonder what if.
“American meat plants” are largely staffed by immigrants, so much for the “American” designation. The ownership? Yes most likely. Or more likely, Corp or multibillionaires who own all the stock and control it anyways. And I share the sentiment David, great article by Cat. As to safety, we’re all on our own so don’t forget it no matter how much you have in the bank. Politicians are the scourge of the earth, no matter what/how saintly they pretend to be. They are whores who stoop to lowest possible denominator, gets them re elected.
Maybe the way forward is a ways back, when we who could would have our own flocks, do our own slaughters, make or grow our own food instead of take out. Life changes, go with the flow or prepare to swim upstream against whatever bumps you will inevitably encounter.
The food chain “Get Big or Get Out” Stress Test is complete. Earl Butz was wrong. It has failed miserably. It is now a national security threat.
Yet… the smaller regional and local sustainable food systems that connect farmers to consumers is Thriving
https://www.rawmilkinstitute.org/updates/factory-farms-vs-sustainable-local-farms-during-covid19
Interesting perspective from the people of New York city…
https://www.projectveritas.com/news/breaking-funeral-directors-in-covid-19-epicenter-doubt-legitimacy-of-deaths/
Ken, thanks for sharing that link.
indeed. Thanks
Ken
Im not Ken sorrry if it appearead except for the hairdo now go on as you must
I’m dead so why dont you kill me
My kneee it killing me so why don;t you
Sweden and other non-lockdown nations win the debate
https://principia-scientific.org/sweden-wins-the-debate-on-covid-lockdown-policy
Thanks for the article Joseph, I intend to share it far and wide…
CS Lewis’ words are certainly apropos, “When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.”
In an article entitled “Defense Of U.S. Economy Starts In Taiwan” John Ransom writes:
“Protests in the streets, oil trading at negative numbers, rapidly spiraling unemployment, locked-down international travel and trade: I think we can all agree that by any barometer, including these, the world has failed the Wuhan flu test.
‘Why the world’s answer to the China flu has been so disastrously wrong, ill-thought out and ignorant to reality can be left to future post-mortems. But after spending literally trillions on public health over the decades to prevent just such an occurrence, it’s clear by now that the world’s investment in public health professionals was wasted.
‘We can debate whether the cost was worth it, but there is no denying that the cost has been beyond anyone’s imagining.
‘Some may argue that in such a crisis, experts faced a no-win situation where they had to either trade lives for the economy or the economy for lives.
‘To that I give a one-word answer: Taiwan.
‘Taiwan is the other “China”. It’s a small island off the southern coast of China, called the Republic of China (ROC). It was created as a bastion of “free” China as the Communist Party took over mainland China (PRC).
‘The island may be small, but the country is a regional and worldwide powerhouse. It’s the 21st largest economy in the world (19th if counting by PPP), despite having a population of just 24 million. It ranks 11th in GDP per capita, comparable to Denmark and Sweden.
‘It’s also an important partner with Communist China as one of the leading investors, trading partners and bankers for the PRC. Consequently, Taiwan hosts quite a bit of contact with the PRC.
‘For comparison sake, the United Sates saw about 3 million visitors from China in 2018, while Taiwan hosted 2.6 million visitors from China in 2018.
‘That’s why the results from Taiwan in fighting China’s Wuhan flu—as they call it in Taiwan—is so extraordinary.
‘Worldwide there have been 321 cases of COVID-19, or Wuhan flu, per million people. In Taiwan there have been just 0.3 cases per million people for a total of 422 cases, with only six total deaths.
‘Equally important is that while the Taiwanese economy has been damaged by the global shutdown, their domestic economy and society has remained open.”
https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2020/04/21/defense-of-us-economy-starts-in-taiwan-n2567310
Ken, here’s a news report from mid-April about Taiwan’s success in suppressing the virus, and it all seems to have come down to aggressive testing and tracking:
Taiwan
“Sitting just 180 kilometers (110 miles) off the coast of mainland China, Taiwan’s outbreak could have been disastrous. At the end of January, the island was estimated to have had the second-highest number of cases in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
“In terms of its death toll, at least, Taiwan doesn’t even have much of a curve to flatten, more of a line with a couple of rigid steps.
Compare that to the United States — now the world’s hardest-hit nation, at least in raw numbers — which has reported at least 26,000 deaths. Even when you take population size into account, a level of success like Taiwan’s could have meant just 83 deaths in the US.
Although Taiwan has high-quality universal health care, its success lies in its preparedness, speed, central command and rigorous contact tracing.
Lesson #1: Be prepared
“Taiwan’s preparedness came largely from some hard-learned lessons from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, which killed 181 people on the island.
“As a result, the island established a specialized Central Epidemic Command Center, which could be activated to coordinate a response in the event of an outbreak. In a sign of how Taiwan wanted to get ahead of the coronavirus, the center was activated on January 20, a day before the island even confirmed its first infection.
“Because its authority was already established, the center was able to implement stringent measures without being slowed down by lengthy political processes. It put more than 120 action items into place within three weeks, according to a list published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). That list alone could serve as a manual on exactly what to do during an outbreak.
“Lesson #2: Be quick
“Taiwan’s action came well before its first Covid-19 infection was confirmed on January 21. Three weeks before, within days of China’s first reported case to the World Health Organization (WHO), Taiwanese officials began boarding and inspecting passengers for fever and pneumonia symptoms on flights from Wuhan, the original epicenter of the virus in China. The island issued a travel alert for Wuhan on January 20, and two days later, still with just a single case, officials began updating the public in daily briefings.
A week after its first case, Taiwan began electronic monitoring of quarantined individuals via government-issued cell phones, and announced travel and entry restrictions, mostly targeting China’s Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital. Just about every day after until the end of February, the government implemented new measures to keep the virus at bay.
Taiwan had only 329 cases when it imposed strict social distancing measures on April 1. In comparison, there were already 335 deaths and more than 3,000 cases on March 20, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that pubs and restaurants were to close, and that most children would be pulled from schools and nurseries. And as the UK is not testing widely, the true number of infections is believed to be much higher than official figures show.
“Lesson #3: Test, trace and quarantine
Authorities carried out widespread testing and tracing the contacts of infected people, putting them all under quarantine. It proactively tested anyone who got off cruise ships and even retested people diagnosed with influenza or pneumonia, to make sure they hadn’t been misdiagnosed and were infected with coronavirus.
Lesson #4: Use data and tech
“A coordinated government response with full collaboration of its citizenry [was] combined with the use of big data and technology,” associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford Medicine, Jason Wang, told CNN. Wang has also studied public health policy and co-authored the JAMA report on Taiwan’s response….
There is more there about Taiwan, along with similar successes in Iceland, South Korea, and Germany….all using similar formulas. It’s impressive, and a sad commentary on American denial and mismanagement.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/world/coronavirus-response-lessons-learned-intl/index.html
It’s called propaganda wide spread
Now that the incessant autocrats of the world realize how easy it is to exercise virtual control over people using false narratives and deceptive symbolisms that hamstring the economy of nations and that in turn drive people into poverty, the sky is the limit.
There has always been an authoritarian mindset that is obsessed with taking control of people’s lives and I would suggest that this covid-19 scenario, however it came to be, is proving to be the ideal tool in order to achieving that objective.
Why must Google, Facebook and YouTube etc. go out of their way in order to limit, censor and attempt to discredit websites and individuals that challenge issues such as abortion, climate crisis and vaccinations, including current pandemic control measures such as face masks and lockdowns etc. Indeed… and why according to Project Veritas did Michigan Health Center Workers choose deception over truth and as such stage fake patients in a COVID-19 testing line for CBS News on May 1st?
What does not make sense to me with respect to this current coronavirus scenario is this obsession with controlling a virus that in essence is beyond control other then to encourage natural immunity… indeed, a process that appears to be anathema re the mainstream narrative…
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord John Dalberg-Acton
“The Newfoundland and Labrador government gave sweeping new powers to the police to enforce public health orders under the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fifteen MHAs sat in the House of Assembly Tuesday to amend the Public Health Protection and Promotion Act, authorizing officers to stop vehicles, enter any premises, and detain people and take them to the border if they are not complying with public health measures.
Bill 38 gives inspectors powers to enter any premises, take samples, conduct tests, make copies, and take photos or videos. It also allows them to inspect premises, processes, books and records.
The law also protects lawmakers, the chief medical officer, inspectors and peace officers and others from personal liability. ”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/house-of-assembly-reopening-may-5-1.5555541?fbclid=IwAR1PWPp4xVHZ5GaBqtTLY_ihQcEMChinLEBwL9rQ-8Yh6_Df8Ed4zH9cxwY
“Americans have been Buffalo’d into TINA (“There Is No Alternative”). The reality is that there are a wide range of responses and one size does not fit all. There are sophisticated approaches that can be deployed which do not necessitate the destruction of our economy and the financial decimation of people and their families… All of the criticism and “hate” directed at Sweden is emotional and not following evidence based science. One wonders why people are reacting the way they are. ”
https://www.aier.org/article/masks-in-sweden-a-followup/?fbclid=IwAR3MCtbLUUwBTMpTZePFrrjQ1YQFklT6vyCDldUsrr4zITX4-VIlBc2V0W0