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Once the grapes are ready, said Salud
Event Coordinator Stephanie Buchan-
an, “the work doesn’t stop.”
“There is no work from home option
for agricultural workers. They have no
choice but to be out and be around oth-
ers to continue to bring in income, to
keep their housing, to put food on the ta-
ble.”
COVID-19 risks for agricultural
workers
Multiple coronavirus infection clus-
ters in Oregon have been linked to agri-
cultural and food-processing worksites.
Among the state’s largest include one
among workers harvesting fruit at
Townsend Farms sites in Cornelius and
Fairview, another at Newport’s Pacific
Seafood plants, and a third at Lamb
Weston, a potato processor in Hermis-
ton.
Vineyard workers, said Salud nurse
Leda Garside, “have an advantage from
other agricultural crops in that they are
able to maintain social distancing at
worksites.” But in the close quarters of
indoor processing spaces, sorting and
bottling lines included, she said “it’s a
little more dicey.”
A factor that confounds contact trac-
ing, agricultural workers don’t stick to
one crop at one worksite. Someone who
might be picking grapes come August is
likely picking blueberries now, or work-
ing at a nursery, then harvesting or-
chard fruit or Christmas trees.
Even if ag workers wear masks and
can maintain distance at work, many
rely on shared, sometimes employer-
provided housing and transportation
where it is difficult to maintain recom-
mended distancing.
Asuncion Martinez-Vasquez, a farmworker, listens as Erica Sanchez-Lerma reads results from a cholesterol and lipid test at
Bethel Heights Vineyard.
Agriculture impact of COVID-19
Agricultural communities across the
US have been hard-hit by coronavirus,
with major outbreaks associated with
agricultural and processing operations
in South Dakota, Florida, North Carolina
and Washington.
Hispanic and Latinx people, the ma-
jority demographic of Oregon’s agricul-
tural workforce, have been dispropor-
tionately impacted by coronavirus.
Of the state’s 12,406 positive cases,
Hispanic people experienced 4,923 of
them. That’s 37 percent of total infec-
tions, despite representing only 13 per-
cent of Oregon’s population.
In response to the pandemic, OSHA,
Oregon’s Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, issued tempor-
ary rules requiring increased field san-
itation measures and more stringent
regulations of agricultural worker hous-
ing and transportation. The agency re-
quired farm employers to secure addi-
tional field sanitation units; hand-
washing stations and portable rest-
rooms.
In May, Governor Brown’s office, in
collaboration with several state agen-
cies, created the Food Security and
Farmworker Safety Project, a $30 mil-
lion fund to increase coronavirus pro-
tections for agricultural workers during
peak harvest season. Masks and 5,000
gallons of hand sanitizer were distrib-
uted at no cost, and millions in funds di-
rected toward increasing safety in ag
worker housing and transportation.
These initiatives are focused on pre-
vention. Salud, which focuses on the
wine industry, and similar mobile clin-
ics operated by Virginia Garcia Memori-
al Health Center, are working to address
disparities in access to testing and care.
“The ag worker community was be-
ing hit particularly hard,” Buchanan
said. “We knew that there were barriers
to access before COVID, and they were
amplified with the pandemic.”
Clinics adapt, prepare
During her Salud appointment at Be-
thel Heights Vineyard in the Eola-Amity
Hills, Asuncion Martinez-Vasquez sat
down at a table under glittering chande-
liers in a space normally reserved for
private tastings. In Spanish, physician
assistant Lilian Navarro-Reynolds
talked Martinez through her blood glu-
cose and cholesterol screening.
Out on the winery’s deck, Garside
waved over a patient from intake while
Patty Robleto administered a COVID
test in the tasting room.
With many area wineries open to
guests exclusively on weekends and by
appointment, Salud’s staff — clad in
masks, face shields, gowns and gloves
— have lefttheir mobile clinic vans for
winery tasting rooms. The move was
necessary, explained Garside, to ensure
staff and patients could maintain safe
physical distances.
Since gaining access to testing
equipment in May, Salud’s staff have
screened more than 400 people for the
virus. So far, the organization is seeing a
3.6 percent positive rate. It was higher
when they first began testing in May,
said Garside, but has since dropped;
“having ongoing education and commu-
nication is helping.”
Salud’s COVID-19 testing is volun-
tary, not mandated by business owners,
and 88 percent of patients have elected
to be tested.
For ag workers, being tested repre-
Luis Campos Flores listens to instructions from Patty Robleto, with ¡Salud! Services, before receiving a COVID-19 test at
Bethel Heights Vineyard near Salem, Oregon, on Tuesday, July 7, 2020. PHOTOS BY BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL
Lillian Navarro-Reynolds, PA, with
¡Salud! Services, prepares a COVID-19
nasal swab at Bethel Heights Vineyard
near Salem, Oregon, on Tuesday, July
7, 2020.
Luis Campos Flores grimaces while receiving a COVID-19 screening at Bethel
Heights Vineyard near Salem, Oregon, on Tuesday, July 7, 2020.
Patty Robleto, with ¡Salud! Services,
pricks Luis Campos Flores's finger to
test lipid and cholesterol at Bethel
Heights Vineyard near Salem, Oregon,
on Tuesday, July 7, 2020.
The ¡Salud! Mobile health clinic truck is parked at Bethel Heights Vineyard near
Salem, Oregon, on July. The clinic offers COVID-19 testing, information, outreach
and other medical services to farmworkers.
sents some personal risk. Salud is re-
quired to report positive tests to state
health officials and to their employer.
Workers risk being removed from work,
and associated financial losses that ac-
company quarantining.
Still, said Garside, “When we give
test results it helps, whether negative or
positive. They share the experience --
the test, it’s not as horrible as people de-
scribe it -- with other workers and with
family members.”
Garside hopes that by testing work-
ers now, following up via text message,
and providing ongoing support to those
who test positive, will normalize testing
and preventative practices to help work-
ers in the industry’s busy months
ahead.
“Harvest is coming and with that is
an influx of people into the Valley,” Gar-
side said. The wine harvest depends on
“interns, seasonal workers. We’re look-
ing at how we gear up to help the indus-
try safely get through what is go-time
for them.”
Martinez-Vasquez, a full-time work-
er at Bethel Heights, said she isn’t afraid
of COVID because of the precautions
put in place at the winery, the commit-
ment to wearing masks and social dis-
tancing.
“Growers have to make every effort to
protect these workers,” Garside said,
“because without the workers there’s no
agriculture. They’re essential. They’re
not disposable. Everybody needs to
make a great effort to prevent this from
spreading.”
Emily Teel is the Food & Drink Editor
at the Statesman Journal. Contact her
at eteel@statesmanjournal.com, Face-
book, or Twitter. See what she’s cooking
and where she’s eating this week on In-
stagram: @emily_teel