COVID's Hidden Toll: The silent struggle of agricultural workers

Source: New York Times

On Tuesday afternoon, Daffodil Altan and Andrés Cedille presented a FRONTLINE documentary, "COVID's Hidden Toll," at the Schuneman Symposium. The film showed agricultural workers in Salinas Valley, California, and how the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately made them choose between their health or their jobs. 

Before this film, I took for granted my experience during the initial lockdown and the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic. I did not have to work for the first few months, and we never had to worry about food or money. Unfortunately, that was not the case for these workers. 

These workers had to continue their jobs as if the pandemic never existed. Many of them were not given masks and other protective gear by their employer. Many were also not notified when a crew member tested positive. And if they were, all workers, positive or not, we're expected to keep working. 

While people across the country were able to file for unemployment, undocumented workers did not have this luxury. Their only choice was to keep working, no matter what. 

Throughout the film, we follow the story of Sinthia Hernandez and her struggles working in the agricultural industry during the pandemic. Not only was she the only person in her household who could work, but her health was extremely at risk because of her cancer and diabetes. As a result, she had no choice but to continue working, even when exposed to COVID-19. 

Many of the current COVID-19 protocols put into place by the U.S. Department of Labor were not in place during the early days of the pandemic when this film was created. For example, many workers were suspended if they wore a face mask to work and expected to keep up business. One anonymous worker even said, "it doesn't feel like we're essential workers; it feels like we're slaves." 

Another aspect of the film was the responses of company leaders who were accused of poorly treating their workers. Many did not agree to an interview and would send a brief and meaningless statement to Altan and Cedille. The few who agreed to go on camera gave perfectly rehearsed responses about how they care about workers and would casually not mention issues such as not paying workers for sick leave. 

I hope to work in investigative journalism one day, and this film perfectly portrays the critical work I hope to do one day. This film shed light on so many untold stories and exposed companies' wrongdoings to the public.