https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article243614522.htmlPublic health experts and aid groups are challenging Gov. Ron DeSantis’ assertion this week that migrant farmworkers are driving Florida’s record surge in COVID-19 cases — noting that state help with testing, face masks and educational outreach has been late to reach agricultural communities.
After DeSantis said last week that “the No. 1 outbreak we’ve seen is in agricultural communities†and followed up this week with statements that “overwhelmingly Hispanic†farmworkers and day laborers were the leading source of new cases, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried fired back, noting that the majority of farmworkers left several weeks ago after harvests ended and that cases are spiking in non-agricultural areas.
COVID-19 likely has been present in Miami-Dade’s agricultural communities of Homestead, Florida City and Naranja for months, but those cases have been missed by the state’s testing efforts, said Patria Rojas, a public health expert at Florida International University.
Most farmworkers do not own cars and cannot be tested at the state’s drive-thru sites, Rojas said. They get to and from work in packed buses, start work before sunrise, and often labor in fields until sundown, she said. Because most of Miami-Dade’s farmworkers are immigrants, she added, they also tend to keep a low profile to avoid “anti-immigrant sentiment.â€
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