"COVID's Hidden Toll" Highlights a Lack of Empathy Under Capitalism

 Ethan Bloomfield

eb348519@ohio.edu

Photo courtesy of PBS Frontline

    Daffodil Altan and Andres Cedille's hour-long piece for PBS Frontline, "COVID's Hidden Toll," was showcased at the Schuneman Symposium Tuesday. It followed the lives of several immigrant workers in and around the Salinas Valley in California during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The piece drew attention to the workers' struggles with the virus and their workplace as it tried to put product and profitability above the safety of their workers. Furthermore, the plight of Sinthia Hernandez throughout the story encapsulates the lack of help and resources that the disadvantaged, disabled, and sick are given under capitalism. According to a Pew Research study, California has the most significant number of undocumented immigrants in the US by state, dwarfing Texas' number by almost a million. While this is true, California law prohibits undocumented workers from collecting state unemployment insurance, according to the California Legal Aid Network. COVID, as we know, has ravaged the workplace in all areas and specializations, changing the way that we work. Undocumented farmworkers do not get the luxury to work from home. Consider this dilemma: work in an unsafe environment that is quite possibly the only work that will hire you, put your safety first, and stop working, cutting off your primary source of income for you and your family. That is the hard truth that countless undocumented workers have had to consider. 

  The representative for the meatpacking plant told Altan in his interview for "COVID's Hidden Toll" that workers that chose to leave due to safety concerns were not compensated. Furthermore, the company disregarded visibly sick workers and continued to let them work, undermining the safety of everyone else at the plant. Workers that care for older people, the disabled, children, and those with preexisting conditions themselves are not considered by these companies that call COVID no more than the flu. This lack of empathy permeates the narrative of the Frontline piece. 

  Sinthia's portion of the narrative ties the anti-capitalist tone of the piece together. She is an undocumented worker who provides for her mom, sister, and other families who suffer from disabilities and ailments. Sinthia also has cancer and diabetes and continues to be the sole person in the family with a steady income. Her frustration with the risk to her and her family is palpable, effectively passing on to the viewer. 

  All in all, the piece was eye-opening in many ways. Of course, the struggle of undocumented workers is not a normal part of Ohio life so this world might come off as new and strange to many. But, while it may be different, workers' struggle against unjust and unethical working conditions is universal.