"COVID's Hidden Toll" gives a voice to the voiceless

Emma Dollenmayer 

ed569918@ohio.edu 

Photo provided by PBS 

On Tuesday, the Schuneman Symposium hosted journalists and producers of the FRONTLINE documentary, "COVID'S Hidden Toll," Daffodil Altan and Andres Cedille.  

According to PBS, "FRONTLINE examines how the COVID crisis has hit vulnerable immigrants and undocumented workers. The documentary follows the coronavirus pandemic's invisible victims, including crucial farm and meatpacking workers who lack protections and have been getting sick." 

Altan and Cedille disclosed that the creation of the project took three months, all during the height of the pandemic. As a result, it was often more challenging to cultivate, given that all of the reporting, editing, producing, and directing had to be completed individually. Additionally, the risk of contracting COVID played a significant factor in decision-making. Yet, Altan continued to report on the field with workers who had just been out of quarantine, was potentially COVID positive, and some who even were COVID positive. 

However, investigating the working conditions of those who were "invisible victims" was more critical to Altan and Cedille. Therefore they went through with making the documentary despite the risks associated with continuing work. 

The documentary follows Sinthis Hernandez, and a worker deemed an essential worker for her job in the farming industry. Unfortunately, Hernandez has cancer and diabetes, resulting in her being immunocompromised. 

Whereas many workers were able to file for unemployment with the U.S. Department of Labor, at the height of the pandemic, many of the essential agricultural and meatpacking workers were unable to do so due to being undocumented immigrants. 

Because of this, many of the essential workers faced harsh working conditions, which resulted in no reform and change within the fields. Workers like Hernandez were forced to continue to work in close contact with other individuals, sometimes even without masks, considering companies, at the time, were not providing them. On top of that, testing was not as easily accessible, and obviously, vaccines were not being administered at the time. 

Many workers and individuals interviewed in the documentary decided to mask their identities for fear of being fired. For example, one of these workers showed a video of the head of the HR department at her meatpacking company yelling at the workers, basically stating if they refused to work because of a coworker testing positive, they could "voluntarily quit," so essentially being fired. 

Of course, the few CEOs who agreed to speak on camera denied knowing what went on within the facilities and stated they were following protocol to ensure their workers remained safe and employed. 

Overall, this documentary was incredibly insightful in giving the voiceless a voice and shedding light on a subject many were aware was occurring while they were working from home, paid, and safe.