ABSTRACT

Facing the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing outbreaks among farmworkers and food processing workers across the nation, the Oregon Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OR OSHA) issued temporary regulations, in contrast to optional recommendations, in late spring. These regulations aimed to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission among farmworkers, but made compromises that may fail to reduce the risk of further outbreaks among Oregon’s agricultural workers, particularly those living in agricultural labor housing. Instead of considering the scientific literature that called for attention to space and length of time for social distancing among unrelated persons in indoor areas, the agency accepted the 6-foot social distancing rule of thumb and allowed even shorter distances between beds with the installation of plastic or plywood barriers. The 6-foot distance (or less with a barrier) between people sleeping next to each other in poorly ventilated housing has proved disastrous. Additionally, testing for migrant and seasonal farmworkers is neither uniform nor thorough, and little data have been collected to assess the success of existing testing efforts. New regulations must be adopted for farm labor housing that limit occupancy to at most two unrelated individuals for a room of 200 square feet; include expanded specification on the provision of fresh air in shared living spaces; and support increased access to testing, surveillance testing, and alternative safe housing at labor housing sites for identified cases.

摘要

面对COVID-19大流行的爆发以及全国各地农场工人和食品加工工人的爆发，俄勒冈州职业健康与安全管理局（OR OSHA）在春季末发布了临时法规，与可选建议相反。这些法规旨在降低在农场工人中传播COVID-19的风险，但做出了折衷方案，可能无法降低俄勒冈州农业工人，尤其是住在农业劳动住房中的农业工人进一步暴发的风险。没有考虑要求室内空间中无关人员之间社会疏远的空间和时间长度的科学文献，该机构接受了6英尺的社会疏远经验法则，并通过安装塑料或胶合板屏障使床之间的距离更短。事实证明，在通风不良的房屋中，彼此挨着睡的人之间的6英尺距离（或更少，有障碍物）被证明是灾难性的。此外，对移民工人和季节性农民工的测试既不统一也不彻底，并且几乎没有收集到任何数据来评估现有测试工作的成功。对于农业劳动住房，必须采用新规定，将最多只能容纳两个无亲属的200平方英尺的房间；包括有关在共享居住空间中提供新鲜空气的扩展规范；并支持在确定的案例中增加在劳动住房现场进行测试，监视测试和替代性安全住房的机会。