The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Greenhouse near Windsor reports 191 coronavirus cases
Health unit swoops in
“A couple of workers told me they’ve been taking care of themselves, using masks, washing their hands, but if you share housing with 20 others it’s very tough to keep yourself safe.”
WINDSOR, ONT. — The Windsor-essex County Health Unit effectively shut down one of the biggest greenhouse growers in the region Wednesday after reporting 191 new COVID-19 cases at the farm.
Multiple sources identified the farm as Nature Fresh in Leamington, which volunteered to have its workers tested.
A health unit news release did not state explicitly that public health had closed the farm. But it cited the 191 cases, the result of a targeted testing campaign led by Ontario Health, and said:
“Given the size of this outbreak, the potential for COVID-19 transmission, and the ongoing risk to the health and safety of the workers, medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed is issuing an order under section 22 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act . . . effective July 1. The order requires the owner/operator of the farm to ensure the isolation of workers and prohibits them from working until further direction.”
The health unit did not identify the farm, but the United Food and Commercial Workers said Wednesday that workers from Nature Fresh, which grows tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, told it that a supervisor told them the company had been shut down.
“They were told that the company has been ordered to shut down their operation,” said Santiago Escobar, a UFCW national representative. “The workers said they have to (isolate) 14 days.”
He said workers told him late Wednesday that the facility is being disinfected.
The health unit was not available to comment further. Nature Fresh owner Peter Quiring could not be reached for comment.
The health unit news release stated that “the safety and well-being of all workers is our top priority. It is imperative that we stop the transmission of COVID-19 in this farm and our agricultural sector. All affected workers must be isolated and their health and wellbeing be monitored before any return to work can be discussed.”
The total number of workers who must isolate and the plan for how to do that isn’t completely clear yet, said Claudia den Boer, one of the leaders of the response to the crisis.
But one worker told Escobar that he is experiencing a fever, cough and headaches and is being isolated in a hotel room.
“He is very concerned because he’s by himself in a hotel room,” Escobar said. “He wants to be moved to a hospital.”
Any worker who tests positive for the virus will be covered by Workplace Safety and Insurance Board benefits, said Justine Taylor of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers. Those isolated because they’ve been in contact with a case would typically be paid by their employer, she said. That could be offset by insurance that covers 90 per cent of wages.
But Escobar said he is helping some workers apply for the federal government’s CERB benefit because WSIB is so complicated.
Some workers also want to apply for an open work permit, he said, “because they don’t want to work under these conditions.” He said they cited living in bunkhouses with at least 20 other workers.
“A couple of workers told me they’ve been taking care of themselves, using masks, washing their hands, but if you share housing with 20 others it’s very tough to keep yourself safe.”
It’s too early to determine the impact of the shutdown on the farm, said Taylor.
“It will depend on what the plan is . . . how the workforce is isolated, what potential there is for any of the workforce to return to work,” she said. “But obviously when you’re dealing with a living crop, there’s always the possibility that the crop might perish if they’re not able to source replacement labour.”
A notice in Spanish was posted on the Facebook page of Mexicanos en Leamington stating that Nature Fresh is looking for emergency workers for two to four weeks. It states the farm will accept all the hours they can work.
“We have to see what unfolds in the next day with the numbers,” Leamington Mayor Hilda Macdonald said. “Shutting down a large farm has a huge impact on the industry. But we have to trust our health officials that it has to be done.”
Macdonald worried that shutting down Nature Fresh “will strike fear in the hearts of other farms,” and their owners won’t volunteer to have their workers tested.
“There are no winners here,” she said. “But something drastic has to happen to stop the spread.”
Earlier in the week, Ahmed said infected farm workers will not be permitted to return to work even if they’re asymptomatic.
He said Tuesday there are between 400 to 450 migrant workers in isolation.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said later Tuesday he respected Ahmed’s decision.
“That’s a choice of Dr. Ahmed,” he said. “He has been doing a good job. If there are cases as we have seen on one farm with 175 cases, that’s going to be his decision.
“But in other situations maybe he might be more flexible, but I can understand where he is coming from.”
There are now 1,611 confirmed cases in Windsor and Essex County, with 893 of those resolved and 68 deaths. Two long-term care homes have outbreaks, and four workplaces have two or more cases.
Santiago Escobar UFCW representative