Organization brings COVID-19 testing and food donations to farmworkers in Miami-Dade
Lack of adequate transportation, fear of encountering immigration authorities and disinformation have restricted access to COVID-19 testing for farmworkers in Miami-Dade.
In an effort to bring COVID clinics to the communities, the organization American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the Florida Department of Health set up a free testing and food donation site on Sunday in an agricultural neighborhood in the Redlands.
A total of 100 tests were administered to farmworkers who each took a box of food as an incentive to continue to care for their health.
Lis-Marie Alvarado, program director of AFSC, said the agricultural industry in Miami-Dade is one of the most impacted by the pandemic due to how hard it is to keep social distance, particularly in plant nurseries where laborers work in big groups.
Farmworkers usually stand long hours under the sun, and their lungs “have been exposed to heavy chemicals, so something like COVID would kill them fast,” Alvarado said. “This has been a terrible situation.”
Antonia, a Mexican immigrant, who settled in South Florida more than 30 years ago and works at a nursery, was there on Sunday to get tested. According to her, this is the first time a free testing site has reached her community and for many of her coworkers, it was their first time being tested since the pandemic started.
“We have food in the supermarkets because they are out there working. We owe it to our community to come through in times of need,” said Alvarado. “That’s why we are here doing all we can in getting aid even though we continue to work for policy change and community organizing.”
For Maria, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who works at a nursery in Homestead, getting tested for free was a source of relief. “I don’t have money to pay for it and some employers are asking that we do it,” she said.
Rumors about COVID and fear among farmers
Despite being designated as essential workers by the federal government, farmworkers have a fear of getting tested for COVID-19, citing a possible infection that could lead to losing their jobs.
According to Alvarado, economic impact is not the only enemy they face. Disinformation also plays a big role in the lack of testing. “There are a lot of rumors about the same tests passing the virus, about being injected with the virus. Even some pastors have told them that if they get tested, they don’t believe in God,” she said.
Maria said that she heard the rumors at the nursery where she works. Some of her coworkers said that they wouldn’t get tested because the virus would be purposefully injected into them. However, she decided to do the test on Sunday and said she “felt very safe.”
Aware of the disinformation, Antonia also sent a message to her coworkers in the field to “not be afraid and get tested, because it is important to know if we are infected, how to take care of ourselves and how to protect ourselves”.
Few job guarantees for farmworkers
When the pandemic started, the Florida Department of Health published a guidance for agricultural workers and employers. Among other things, the document establishes that companies must provide their employees with protection equipment and could not penalize them for taking sick leave.
However, farmworkers told the Miami Herald that a lot of their employers don’t provide them with equipment and they have to buy it themselves, and if the test was to come back positive, they would get fired without any guarantees.
Alvarado, said that a lot of these companies don’t even provide “soap to wash their hands,” and when people get sick “they don’t pay them, they just replace them.”
“We need a lot of help because we are vulnerable in what we do. We have to work for our children, to survive,” Antonia said.
For Maria, these conditions led to farmworkers being “afraid of working in the field because no one is helping us. We are worried of carrying the disease and not being able to pay rent.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 6:29 PM.
