Report: Monterey County ag workers three times more likely to get COVID-19 than others

MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION) The California Institute for Rural Studies released a report on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting agricultural workers, and it found that in Monterey County, they are three times more likely to get COVID-19 than workers in other industries.

In the report, the organization said that as of June 30, there were 605 cases among agricultural workers and 587 among non-agricultural workers. When compared with the number of jobs in each industry, the report found that 1,569 out of 100,000 agricultural workers were infected with COVID-19, and 471 out of 100,000 non-agricultural workers were infected.

The report said employment data for the agricultural industry has uncertainties because many jobs are seasonal and people are only counted as agricultural workers if they are on their employer's payroll during the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month.

It is also possible that people who test positive and work for labor contractors are said to be in the county where the contractor has its business office, even if crews are sometimes sent to other counties. If that is the case, the case may be counted in the county the employee lives in, even if that is not where the person contracted the virus.

"Non-Agricultural employment data is probably far more accurate because most jobs in those industries are stable, year-round jobs, usually at a 'brick & mortar' worksite. The implicit assumption of officially reported agricultural employment data is that the same number of persons were working each and every day of a specific month, which is unlikely," the report said.

The writers of the report said there is evidence that the workers do not always contract the virus at the job site either. It could pass while traveling to or from a job or among people living in densely crowded housing.

The report also found that as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, agricultural workers are also facing job loss due to a decrease in food service demand. The organization found that there was a 39% decline from the 3-year average of Monterey County agricultural employment during April, May and June of 2020.

The organization said Monterey County was used as an example because most California counties lack information about how COVID-19 patients are employed.

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