Federal Study Shows Brazil Meat Plants Directly Linked To Covid-19 Spread

[Judi Lynn]

By Sally Ho Published on Jul 20, 2020 Last updated Jul 20, 2020

Meat plants have been a major factor in the spread of coronavirus in at least three different regions of Brazil, according to the country’s experts. According to the new study conducted by federal prosecution department the Public Ministry of Labour (MPT), the conditions at the meat plants have directly contributed towards the rapid transmission of the virus. The findings come as the country reaches nearly 2 million confirmed cases of infection and over 72,000 deaths, coming in second only to the United States on both figures.

Representing perfect coronavirus “breeding centres”, some of Brazil’s biggest meat plants have been a crucial source of the spread of the disease. Like the outbreaks recorded in slaughterhouses all over the world, many of the worst seen in the United States, the reasons behind the danger of meat facilities are related to overcrowded working conditions, workforces made up primarily of migrant workers or marginalised communities living in communal or cramped housing, and that many factories have remained open.

“There is a direct relationship,” commented Ernesto Galindo, a researcher involved in a study for the MPT, which found that Covid-19 infections in central and southern Brazil were most severe in towns where meat workers live and work.

Backed by the country’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who has dismissed the coronavirus as a “little flu” despite falling victim to the virus himself, Brazil’s powerful meat agribusiness sector has done little to protect its workers. As of the end of June, over 4,900 meat workers have tested positive at 32 different plants in the state of Rio Grande do Sul alone, representing a third of the cases in the region.

More:
https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/brazil-pandemic-spread-linked-to-meat-plants-slaughterhouses/

[soothsayer]

1. What's happening with our people who have been ordered back to work by drumpf?

With no safeguards.

I figure there’s a coverup, but maybe the press just lost interest.

[Judi Lynn]

2. You're right, there hasn't been a peep, and it's not something you'd think they would ignore.

It would seem it indicates any actual concern for powerless people is truly superficial these days in the popular media.

[soothsayer]

3. Yeah