Yakima County has the highest per capita rate of COVID-19 infections on the entire West Coast, a distinction the community leaders blame on a slow response from the governor and state and local officials to demands for stronger health and safety protections for agricultural workers. The Central Washington county has a 26.5% positive rate among those tested; the state’s average is 6%.
Rosalinda Guillén was one of the community leaders who sounded the alarm about farmworker safety in March. She’s the executive director of Community to Community Development, an organization based in Bellingham that focuses on democracy and food justice, as well as providing support to agricultural workers.
“No healthcare, poor housing, exhaustion, crowded into packing sheds, crowded into buses. They have been vulnerable for generations. And nothing was done to change that environment during this pandemic,” Guillén said. “It’s almost like we’re someone’s sacrificial lamb in this pandemic. And again, every time something happens, our community has to suffer for it.”
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