California grower group helps speed worker COVID-19 tests

To protect farm employees while allowing recovered employees to return to work more quickly, the Grower Shipper Association of Central California is collaborating with a local clinic to ease COVID-19 testing and speed results.

“We worked to create an option that prioritizes testing for agricultural employees, whether they have symptoms of COVID-19 or not, with shorter turnaround times,” Chris Valadez, association president, said in a news release.

The partnership with Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas came after Valadez said he heard test results could take up to six days. The new program provides results within 48 hours, he said.

While waiting for results, farm employers faced labor shortages while agricultural workers were in quarantine after a potential exposure.

“Farmworkers have two weeks of paid sick time; however, it is still frustrating and unsettling for them to quarantine for so many days while awaiting test results,” Valadez said in the release. “For farm employers, the long wait times for results meant that harvesting could be potentially slowed or disrupted due to diminishing numbers within a crew.”

The grower shipper association and clinic are also providing more convenient locations for testing.

A farm employer can fill out a form supplied by the association with the number of farm workers requiring testing along with their preferred time and location. Clinic staff conducts testing, and the results are reported to the local health department. 

Another grower shipper association partnership with local hospitals, has secured more than 1 million masks for farmworkers and provides onsite COVID-19 prevention training for agricultural workers. 

The hospitals are also helping establish quarantine housing for workers who have symptoms, test positive or are exposed to the virus, with daily health checks, according to the release.

“As we move through the pandemic, we continue to learn more about how to protect farm workers and, at the same time, how to continue to harvest and ship healthy fruits and vegetables to consumers,” Valadez said in the release. “This new testing program is another step toward evolving programs developed during COVID-19.”

The association was part of a regional collaboration that developed COVID-19 prevention guidance for farm employers, released March 20.

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