By Nessia Berner Wong, Kimberly Libman, Sabrina Adler, and Rebecca Johnson, Change Lab Solutions, April 21, 2020
COVID-19 has urgently demonstrated that everyone needs to live in safe and healthy communities. The people most affected by COVID-19 are communities of color, people with low income, immigrants, and other underserved groups. These groups are most vulnerable because of existing laws and policies that affect the fundamental drivers of health inequities. Communities and local governments that take steps to ensure health, safety, housing, food, and economic stability for all of their residents will be helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and laying the groundwork for health equity and prosperity for future generations.
To help communities and local governments strengthen their response to COVID-19 and advance health equity, we’re publishing a blog series about policies that they can enact right away. This post is the first in the series.
Food workers have always been essential personnel: their work helps keep people healthy and maintain our economy. People who serve, deliver, distribute, process, and harvest our food make up 11 percent of the US workforce (22 million jobs) and are crucial to the healthy functioning of our food system. Compared with workers in many other industries, food workers earn lower wages, work in more physically demanding and dangerous jobs, experience higher rates of food insecurity and chronic health issues, and have lower rates of health care coverage. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, food workers are facing wage losses, more dangerous working conditions, and acute health hazards from coronavirus, putting at risk the US food system and everyone who relies on it. In order to maintain the food system, it is critical that local governments take action to support and protect these essential workers.
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