"What happens if America's 2.5 million farmworkers get sick?" 3 April 2020

America’s 2.5 million farmworkers are among the groups most at risk of contracting the coronavirus... If something isn’t done — now — to address their unique vulnerability, the men and women who plant, cultivate and harvest our food will face a decimating wave of contagion and misery in a matter of weeks, if not days... The two most promising measures for protecting ourselves from the virus and preventing its spread — social distancing and self-isolation — are effectively impossible in farmworker communities.

... [F]armworkers have never had adequate access to health care... Farmworkers have been designated essential workers... This puts farmworkers in an awful bind: They can’t afford to get sick by going to work, and they can’t afford to lose their jobs by not working... The message to our country’s farmworkers is unmistakable: While your labor is essential, you are expendable.