Perdue plant employees walk out over COVID-19 concerns
Close to 50 employees who walked out Monday morning say some workers on the production line were in contact with people who tested positive for COVID-19
KATHLEEN, Ga. — The Perdue plant in Kathleen was a little emptier Monday after about 50 employees walked out.
They said they don’t feel safe working around people who have potentially been exposed to coronavirus and want the plant to do more to protect their employees.
“We’re not getting nothing — no type of compensation, no nothing, not even no cleanliness, no extra pay — no nothing. We’re up here risking our life for chicken,” said employee Kendaliyn Granville.
She said people still working on the production line said they have been exposed to coronavirus.
Granville said her supervisors are telling them they are sanitizing the building every night, but when she comes in every morning, there is food on the floor from the night before and the bathrooms are still dirty.
“All we’re asking now is just to sanitize the building. Sanitize the building. Everybody that’s been exposed to it, they need to go home. These folks are still on the floor.”
Diamond Gray said this is about more than coronavirus concerns. She said they are tired of accepting the bare minimum.
“We’re told there’s going to be more promotions and more pay for the company, but no one has seen that,” said Gray. “I think a lot of people are just tired and with the virus involved. Also, I think it’s just gotten to the point where enough is enough.”
James Braswell said he’s heard of other companies getting extra pay for working during the pandemic, but Perdue is “business as usual.”
“We feel like the people who they love, they’re letting them work from home, but they got us in here working,” said Braswell.
He said supervisors are telling them the building is getting cleaned nightly and putting out hand sanitizers for the workers, but he said it’s not enough.
“We gotta go home to our family because you know some of our family, some of our kids and all that, they’re at home, you know what I’m saying? Quarantined, but we’re out here working and all that and being exposed.”
Granville said it’s time to take a stand.
“You want us to go back on the floor to work? No, first sanitize the line, something, because this is not a playing matter. This is not a game.”
Houston County Sheriff’s deputies were called and the group dispersed, but they didn’t have any other information. Granville said most of the group went home.
Perdue Farms sent the following statement via email to 13WMAZ:
We know that many are feeling anxious during these uncertain times, and we’re doing everything we can to take good care of our Associates while continuing to produce safe and reliable food. Last week, the federal government deemed food industry workers as mission-critical personnel. This is a huge responsibility, and we are committed to fulfilling it while keeping our Associates safe.
We’ve stepped up a number of our protocols to help ensure the health and wellness of our Associates, such as:
- We’ve increased cleaning protocols in all of our offices and facilities, not only for sanitation but also in common areas, cafeterias, and locker rooms.
- All of our associates have up to four weeks of paid time off, and we encourage them to stay home if they feel ill or may have been exposed to the virus. Importantly, we are also working to make our paid leave policies even more flexible during this time to be responsive and provide added relief to Associates.
- We’ve encouraged any Associate feeling ill to call his or her local healthcare provider, or make use of the onsite Wellness Centers at our facilities, which are available to all Associates and their families free of charge. The staff at our Wellness Centers are trained on how to protect our Associates from, and identify and respond to, symptoms of COVID-19. These professionals follow standard operating procedures as defined by the CDC for infectious diseases. We have extended the hours of many of our onsite Wellness Centers for the foreseeable future.
Knowing that the COVID-19 situation is very fluid, we are assessing our policies as needed and are making sure we take thoughtful care of our Associates as it continues to evolve.
Thanks in large part to our dedicated Associates, Perdue, together with other food companies, will play a meaningful part in helping to keep people fed as the world grapples with and recovers from this significant challenge.
Photo Credit: 13wmaz.com
Louisiana pastor defies coronavirus orders, holds church service for 1,800 people “anyone in my congregation is infected with the virus, I will “heal them through God”
(WVLA/CNN/Meredith) — A Louisiana church hosted more than 1,800 people at its Sunday morning service, going against state and federal guidelines for social distancing to hold the service.
Pastor Tony Spell says the Life Tabernacle Church in Central believes in the “healing hand of Jesus,” even through an aggressive global pandemic.
Throughout the service, parishioners were seen touching each other and closely gathering, with very few of them wearing masks or gloves.
Twenty-six buses were used to pick people up from around the Baton Rouge area to take them to church.
Spell said if anyone in his congregation is infected with the virus, he will “heal them through God.”
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, when asked, addressed the controversial church service, with his same message from the beginning.
“I would urge [Spell] and all faith leaders to heed this directive and not necessarily engage in mass gatherings where this coronavirus can spread,” Edwards said.
Spell, however, identifies himself as a “first responder,” saying his services will not be stopped, regardless of the governor’s order to shelter in place.
“When the paramedics can’t get there, when the law enforcement can’t get there, the holy ghost can get there it will make a difference in someone’s life,” Spell said.
More than two dozen parishioners at the service donated blood to help save lives during the outbreak.
Photo Credit: wfsb.com
Costco not accepting returns on toilet paper, sanitizer, other items
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) – If Costco customers have regret about hoarding popular items like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and paper towels, they’re out of luck.
The big-box store confirmed to Arizona’s Family it will not issue returns for things bought in bulk during the coronavirus panic. Costco added customers can visit their local warehouse for details on the developing situation.
Costco didn’t say why it changed its usual flexible return policy but part of it may be for safety. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the coronavirus can live on plastic or hard materials for up to three days and on cardboard for up to 24-hours.
The warehouse stores have also been very busy with customers lining up outside of the store, so workers may not have time to handle returns.
Photos posted on social media from Costco fan sites like Costco Insider and Costco Buys showed the items unable to be returned are toilet paper, paper towels, sanitizing wipes, water, rice and Lysol. Many people praised the move on Instagram.
“Serves hoarders right. I worked retail during the Y2K panic and we had to do the same thing,” one commenter said.
“It kinda puts them in their place. Like, you can’t be doing that! Taking advantage of people during a national crisis,” another customer said.
Photo Credit: CBS News
Spring breaker apologizes for infamous ‘if I get corona,’ remark
A spring breaker from Ohio who went viral last week for downplaying the coronavirus outbreak while partying in Miami has apologized for his remarks.
“I would like to sincerely apologize for the insensitive comment I made in regards to COVID-19 while on spring break,” Brady Sluder wrote in a Sunday Instagram post.
Sluder became the face of defiant spring breakers in The Sunshine State when he told Reuters that he would not let the global pandemic interfere with his planned trip.
“If I get corona, I get corona,” Sluder said in the interview, which was also filmed and broadcast on countless cable networks across the country.
“At the end of the day, I’m not going to let it stop me from partying,” he said.
By Sunday, however, with time to reflect, Sluder issued a wordy apology.
“I wasn’t aware of the severity of my actions and comments,” said Sluder. “Our generation may feel invincible, like I did when I commented, but we have a responsibility to listen and follow the recommendations in our communities.”
At the time Sluder and his pals were reveling, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already advised people to remain roughly 6 feet apart from each other to help curb the spread of the the illness. President Trump had also recommended avoiding gatherings of 10 or more people.
Sluder on Sunday said he understands the severity of the virus and its potentially deadly effect on elderly people.
“I’ve learned from these trying times and I’ve felt the repercussions to the fullest,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, simply apologizing doesn’t justify my behavior. I’m simply owning up to my mistakes and taking full responsibility for my actions.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/03/24/spring-breaker-apologizes-for-infamous-if-i-get-corona-remark/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Missouri Walmart Coronavirus Licker Charged With ‘Terrorist Threat’
A Warrenton man was charged with making a terrorist threat after he filmed himself licking bunch of items at Walmart.
“Who’s afraid of the coronavirus?” Cody Pfister, 26, taunts in a video he later posted to social media.
The video spread around the world, and Warrenton police said in a statement the department had been contacted by people in the Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
We take these complaints very seriously and would like to thank all of those who reported the video so the issue could be addressed,” police said in the statement.
The video appears to have been filmed on March 11 at the Warrenton store, according to court records. Pfister was taken into custody this week, and Warren County prosecutors charged him today. The charge is a low-level felony.
Bizarrely, he’s not the first person to get in trouble with police for licking surfaces as public health officials beg people to wash their hands, keep at least six feet apart and avoid touching their faces in hopes of slowing the spread of COVID-19. The manager of a grocery store in Wisconsin called police after a woman licked the door handle to a freezer, reportedly to protest the virus, while a manager was disinfecting the store, Newsweek reported.
There have been more than 44,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 500 deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The city of St. Louis announced its first death, a woman in her 30s, just yesterday.
Pfister was booked into the Warren County jail without bond. He has previous convictions for burglary, theft of a firearm, drug possession and driving while intoxicated.
Photo Credit: WARRENTON COUNTY POLICE
First gas station in Tennessee drops to 99 cents per gallon
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Gas has officially dropped below a dollar in Tennessee.
Patriot Gas in Paris, Tenn. is selling gas for 99 cents per gallon. According to GasBuddy, it’s the first gas station in the state to lower is price this far.
Last week, a gas station in London, Ky. became the first station to advertise gas for 99 cents.
“Absolutely amazing to see how quickly prices have fallen, and the return of something few Americans have seen since the early 2000s,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “We’re in uncharted waters due to demand plummeting in light of the coronavirus situation, and yesterday oil prices fell to their lowest level since 2002 in a sign of the deep distress our economy is facing.”
via: https://wcyb.com/news/tennessee-news/first-gas-station-in-tennessee-drops-to-99-cents-per-gallon
Photo Credit: Jay Sukhadia
Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans Fear for Their Safety
WASHINGTON — Yuanyuan Zhu was walking to her gym in San Francisco on March 9, thinking the workout could be her last for a while, when she noticed that a man was shouting at her. He was yelling an expletive about China. Then a bus passed, she recalled, and he screamed after it, “Run them over.”
She tried to keep her distance, but when the light changed, she was stuck waiting with him at the crosswalk. She could feel him staring at her. And then, suddenly, she felt it: his saliva hitting her face and her favorite sweater.
In shock, Ms. Zhu, who is 26 and moved to the United States from China five years ago, hurried the rest of the way to the gym. She found a corner where no one could see her, and she cried quietly.
“That person didn’t look strange or angry or anything, you know?” she said of her tormentor. “He just looked like a normal person.
As the coronavirus upends American life, Chinese-Americans face a double threat. Not only are they grappling like everyone else with how to avoid the virus itself, they are also contending with growing racism in the form of verbal and physical attacks. Other Asian-Americans — with families from Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar and other places — are facing threats, too, lumped together with Chinese-Americans by a bigotry that does not know the difference.
In interviews over the past week, nearly two dozen Asian-Americans across the country said they were afraid — to go grocery shopping, to travel alone on subways or buses, to let their children go outside. Many described being yelled at in public — a sudden spasm of hate that is reminiscent of the kind faced by American Muslims and other Arabs and South Asians after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
But unlike in 2001, when President George W. Bush urged tolerance of American Muslims, this time President Trump is using language that Asian-Americans say is inciting racist attacks.
Mr. Trump and his Republican allies are intent on calling the coronavirus “the Chinese virus,” rejecting the World Health Organization’s guidance against using geographic locations when naming illnesses, since past names have provoked a backlash.
Mr. Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he was calling the virus “Chinese” to combat a disinformation campaign by Beijing officials saying the American military was the source of the outbreak. He dismissed concerns that his language would lead to any harm.
On Monday evening, Mr. Trump tweeted, “It is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States.” He added they should not be blamed for the pandemic, though he did not comment on his use of the phrase “Chinese virus.”
It is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States, and all around the world. They are amazing people, and the spreading of the Virus….
….is NOT their fault in any way, shape, or form. They are working closely with us to get rid of it. WE WILL PREVAIL TOGETHER
“If they keep using these terms, the kids are going to pick it up,” said Tony Du, an epidemiologist in Howard County, Md., who fears for his son, Larry. “They are going to call my 8-year-old son a Chinese virus. It’s serious.”
Mr. Du said he posted on Facebook that “this is the darkest day in my 20-plus years of life in the United States,” referring to Mr. Trump’s doubling down on use of the term.
While no firm numbers exist yet, Asian-American advocacy groups and researchers say there has been a surge of verbal and physical assaults reported in newspapers and to tip lines.
San Francisco State University found a 50 percent rise in the number of news articles related to the coronavirus and anti-Asian discrimination between Feb. 9 and March 7. The lead researcher, Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian-American studies, said the figures represented “just the tip of the iceberg” because only the most egregious cases would be likely to be reported by the media.
Professor Jeung has helped set up a website in six Asian languages to gather firsthand accounts; some 150 cases have been reported on the site since it was started last Thursday.
Benny Luo, founder and chief executive of NextShark, a website focused on Asian-American news, said the site used to get a few tips a day. Now it is dozens.
“We’ve never received this many news tips about racism against Asians,” he said. “It’s crazy. My staff is pulling double duty just to keep up.” He said he was hiring two more people to help.
No one is immune to being targeted. Dr. Edward Chew, the head of the emergency department at a large Manhattan hospital, is on the front lines of fighting the coronavirus. He said that over the past few weeks, he had noticed people trying to cover their nose and mouth with their shirts when they are near him.
Dr. Chew has been using his free time to buy protective gear, like goggles and face shields, for his staff in case his hospital runs out. On Wednesday night at a Home Depot, with his cart filled with face shields, masks and Tyvek suits, he said he was harassed by three men in their 20s, who then followed him into the parking lot.
“I heard of other Asians being assaulted over this, but when you are actually ridiculed yourself, you really feel it,” he said the following day.
A writer for The New Yorker, Jiayang Fan, said she was taking out her trash last week when a man walking by began cursing at her for being Chinese.
“I’ve never felt like this in my 27 yrs in this country,” she wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “I’ve never felt afraid to leave my home to take out the trash bc of my face.”
Attacks have also gotten physical.
In the San Fernando Valley in California, a 16-year old Asian-American boy was attacked in school by bullies who accused him of having the coronavirus. He was sent to the emergency room to see whether he had a concussion.
In New York City a woman wearing a mask was kicked and punched in a Manhattan subway station, and a man in Queens was followed to a bus stop, shouted at and then hit over the head in front of his 10-year-old son.
People have rushed to protect themselves. One man started a buddy-system Facebook group for Asians in New York who are afraid to take the subway by themselves. Gun shop owners in the Washington, D.C., area said they were seeing a surge of first-time Chinese-American buyers.
At Engage Armament in Rockville, Md., most gun buyers in the first two weeks of March have been Chinese-American or Chinese, according to the owner, Andy Raymond.
More than a fifth of Rockville’s residents are of Asian ethnicity, and Mr. Raymond said buyers from Korean and Vietnamese backgrounds were not unusual. But Mr. Raymond said he was stunned by the flow of Chinese customers — in particular green-card holders from mainland China — that began earlier this month, a group that rarely patronized his shop before.
“It was just nonstop, something I’ve never seen,” he said.
Mr. Raymond said that few of the Asian customers wanted to talk about why they were there, but when one of his employees asked a woman about it, she teared up. “To protect my daughter,” she replied.
For recent immigrants like Mr. Du who are in close touch with friends and family in China, the virus has been a screaming danger for weeks that most Americans seemed oblivious to.
Mr. Du is trying to remain hopeful. He spends his weekends training to become a volunteer with Maryland’s emergency medical workers. He is part of a group of Chinese-American scientists who organized a GoFundMe account to raise money for protective gear for hospital workers in the area. In three days, they raised more than $55,000, nearly all in small donations.
But he said he was afraid of the chaos that could be unleashed if the United States death toll rises significantly.
Already a gun owner, Mr. Du, 48, said he was in the process of buying an AR-15-style rifle.
“Katrina is not far away,” he said, alluding to the unrest in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “And when all these bad things come, I am a minority. People can see my face is Chinese, clearly. My son, when he goes out, they will know his parents are Chinese.”
For American-born Asians, there is a sudden sense of being watched that is as unsettling as it is unfamiliar.
“It’s a look of disdain,” said Chil Kong, a Korean-American theater director in Maryland. “It’s just: ‘How dare you exist in my world? You are a reminder of this disease, and you don’t belong in my world.’”
He added: “It’s especially hard when you grow up here and expect this world to be yours equally. But we do not live in that world anymore. That world does not exist.”
One debate among Asian-Americans has been over whether to wear a mask in public. Wearing one risks drawing unwanted attention; but not wearing one does, too. Ms. Zhu said her parents, who live in China, offered to ship her some.
“I’m like, ‘Oh please, don’t,’” she said. She said she was afraid of getting physically attacked if she wore one. “Lots of my friends, their social media posts are all about this: We don’t wear masks. It’s kind of more dangerous than the virus.”
A 30-year-old videographer in Syracuse, N.Y., said he was still shaken from a trip to the grocery store last week, when the man ahead of him in the checkout line shouted at him, “It’s you people who brought the disease,” and other customers just stared at him, without offering to help. That same day, he said, two couples verbally abused him at Costco.
“I feel like I’m being invaded by this hatred,” said the man, Edward, who asked that his last name not be used because he feared attracting more attention. “It’s everywhere. It’s silent. It’s as deadly as this disease.”
He said he had tried to hide the details of what happened from his mother, who moved to the United States from China in the 1970s. But there was one thing he did tell her.
“I told her, whatever you do, you can’t go shopping,” he said. “She needed to know there’s a problem and we can’t act like it’s normal anymore.”
via: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/chinese-coronavirus-racist-attacks.html?searchResultPosition=1
Photo Credit: Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times
Arizona man dies after taking anti-malarial medicine touted by Trump to treat COVID-19
An Arizona man has died and his wife is in critical condition after the couple took a medicine touted by President Donald Trump as treatment for COVID-19.
Banner Health says the couple in their 60s took chloroquine, a malaria medication, and got sick within 30 minutes.
It’s unclear if the couple ingested the medication specifically because of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The medicine is usually obtained by prescription, and Banner Health is urging medical providers against prescribing it to people who aren’t hospitalized.
Last week, Trump falsely stated the Food and Drug Administration had just approved the use of chloroquine to treat patients infected with coronavirus. Even after the FDA chief clarified that the drug still needs to be tested, Trump overstaed the drug’s potential upside in containing the virus.
Dr. Daniel Brooks, medical director of Banner Poison and Drug Information Center, says the last thing health officials want is for emergency rooms to be swamped by patients who believe they found a vague and risky solution that could potentially jeopardize their health.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Arizona man steals dozens of unused coronavirus testing kits
TUCSON, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) – The Tucson Police Department is looking for a man who stole dozens of unused coronavirus testing kits from a health clinic.
According to investigators, the man pretended to be a delivery driver and went inside the El Rio Health Center just before 8 p.m. on Friday. He swiped 29 testing kits while the employees were getting ready to close. He drove off in a reddish-colored Dodge Charger or something similar. On Saturday morning, the workers noticed the kits were gone and called 911.
The suspect is described as a Hispanic man in his 30s, roughly 5’9″ to 5’11” with a large build and has a full, dark-colored beard with some graying.
Anyone with information is asked to call 88-CRIME. (520-882-7463)
Police said the stolen kits are basically useless to the thief since the kits can only be tested in a private lab that has the proper tools. Officers also said the stolen kits have been replaced already so it hasn’t affected the clinic’s testing abilities. But it has taken 29 testing kits out of the medical field.
The department also warns that anyone selling coronavirus testing kits is a scammer since there are no home test kits for the virus.
Photo Credit: cnn.com
Harvey Weinstein Tests Positive for Coronavirus in Prison
Convicted rapist and fallen movie producer Harvey Weinstein has reportedly tested positive for coronavirus while in New York State prison. Law enforcement officials confirmed the diagnosis to Deadline on Sunday. Weinstein is now reportedly in medical isolation at the Wende Correctional Facility in Erie County, New York. Weinstein was recently transferred to the prison east of Buffalo from New York City’s Rikers Island.
According to the Deadline report of Weinstein’s diagnosis, the New York State Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment under policies protecting an individual’s medical records. Weinstein public relations chief Juda Engelmayer, meanwhile, said his team hadn’t been informed of Weinstein’s condition.
- The 68-year-old Weinstein was recently sentenced to 23 years in prison after being found guilty in New York City of multiple sex crime felonies. The convictions were on the charges of rape in the third degree and criminal sexual acts in the first degree following a six-week trial.
The New York trial altogether assessed five criminal counts, including two on predatory sexual assault, one involving Miriam Haley and actress Annabella Sciorra, and the other count pertaining to Sciorra and Jessica Mann. In addition to the predatory counts, Weinstein was also charged with one count of criminal sexual assault (against Haley), and two counts of rape (one in the first degree, one in the third, both involving Mann).
The February 24 verdict found Weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting Miriam Haley at his New York apartment on July 10, 2006, while the third-degree rape charge involved his assault of Jessica Mann at a DoubleTree Hotel in New York on March 18, 2013.
Immediately following his conviction, Weinstein was sent to Bellevue Hospital en route to Rikers Island after complaining of chest pains. He underwent a heart procedure before finally arriving at the New York City prison complex on March 5. The sentencing took place on March 11.
Weinstein still faces an upcoming sexual misconduct trial in Los Angeles involving two other women. One of them was Lauren Young, who testified during the New York trial. Other investigations into Weinstein’s misconduct continue globally, with various civil suits also up in the air.
Photo Credit: Seth Wenig/AP/Shutterstock