More Reasons to Take Pandemics Off the Menu
A Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM ARC Animal Rights Coalition
May 2020

Global pandemics will likely continue and even escalate if action isn’t taken.

Leaders around the world are taking unprecedented measures to contain a virus that has infected millions of people, killed hundreds of thousands, and gutted national economies.

"Yet those unprecedented measures address only the symptoms of this crisis, an entirely reactionary response that has so far avoided addressing the root causes of novel disease emergence." (HuffPost 4/21/20)

COVID-19 is just the latest zoonotic disease to emerge that has its roots in the rampant habitat loss occurring around the world and the burgeoning wildlife trade...

"Global pandemics will likely continue and even escalate if action isn’t taken.” (HuffPost 4/21/20)

You can do your part to take pandemics off the menu by adopting a plant-based diet. If the abuse of animals and world-wide habitat destruction aren't enough to sway the public, consider that the meat production industry, already one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, is again putting its workers’ health at risk from coronavirus.

The mistreatment of workers was a problem long before COVID-19, but the current pandemic has thrown the problem into especially sharp relief. "We’re seeing a jump in the number of coronavirus cases among workers at meat plants in the US." (Vox.com 4/22/20)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of April 27, 4,913 meat and poultry plant workers in 115 plants in 19 states had been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 20 people had died. In 17 states that provided data on how many workers were employed at affected production facilities, 3% of more than 130,000 workers were diagnosed with COVID-19, researchers found. The total number of infections is likely an undercount, as the report notes some states with industry-related COVID-19 cases did not share their data.

In Minnesota, Nobles County is home to Minnesota's worst per-capita coronavirus outbreak, which has been tied to the massive JBS USA pork processing plant. As of 5/1 the plant had a total of 866 confirmed positive cases. The county has a population of roughly 22,000 people. By comparison, Ramsey County, which has a population of about 550,000 people, on 5/1 reported that 405 residents had confirmed cases.

---

Return to The Meat and Dairy Industries
Read more at Food Hazards in Animal Flesh and By-products
Read more at COVID-19/Coronavirus Articles Directory