Submitted by Nell Gross
on
Designated critical infrastructure by President Trump in an executive order and encouraged to reopen or remain in operation, meat processing plants face challenges in keeping workers safe during the pandemic. Two University of Washington faculty members, with backgrounds in public health and human geography, explain the situation inside the plants and what can be done to improve it.
Carrie Freshour, a UW assistant professor of geography, focuses on the workplace conditions of industrial operations such as meatpacking plants and prisons, and the socioeconomics of the communities that surround them. Her past research is centered on poulty-processing plants in the American South.