The New York Center for Agricultural Medicine & Health/Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing based in Cooperstown, NY is conducting a farm worker health needs assessment to help them better address worker health and safety needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. [Read more…]
Don’t Let Your Guard Down With Farm Worker Health
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical, indeed essential, role of farm labor in getting food from farm to plate. However, health concerns should not stop with a negative COVID test, especially if an employee or family member is exhibiting any of the ‘flu-like’ symptoms that are associated with corona virus.
A recent farm call was a reminder that working outside, especially during this July heat wave, exposes workers to a number of potential health risks that may present very similar symptoms and can be equally health, and even life, threatening. Recently published studies from the Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences suggest growing numbers of people worldwide are at risk of heat stress and related complications, including farmers and ag laborers working in high heat and humid conditions.
Harvesting and other activities along field edges, including going into the woods instead of using a portable bathroom facilities, also lead to a high risk of tick bites, which can also carry a number of diseases, many as or more debilitating than Lyme disease that most are now aware of. A recent story at Today.com suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic might lead to more tick-borne disease this year, quoting Rutgers entomologist and assistant professor Alvaro Toledo at the Center for Vector Biology with suggestions how to prevent tick bites.
It is critical for your employees’ health and well-being to get proper diagnosis and treatment for all of these ailments. This table illustrates how many tick-born diseases, as well as heat stress, all have potential symptoms very similar to those of COVID-19. Each is linked to additional resources at the CDC. In many cases, it may be the ‘other symptoms’ that may be unique to each disease and assist a medical practitioner with correct identification and lead to better verification with further testing.
Disease > Symptoms v |
COVID-19 | Heat Stress | Lyme Disease | Ehrlichiosis | Babe- biosis | Powas-san | Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever |
Vector* | Human | Black-legged Tick (a.k.a. Deer Tick) (I. scapularis) | Lone Star Tick (A. americanum) & Black-legged | Black-legged Tick | Ground hog(I. cookei), Squirrel (I. marxi) & Black-legged Ticks | American Dog Tick (D. variabilis) | |
Fever or chills | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Cough | X | X | |||||
Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing | X | ||||||
Fatigue | X | X | X | X | |||
Muscle/body aches | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
Headache | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
New loss of taste or smell | X | ||||||
Sore throat | X | ||||||
Congestion or runny nose | X | ||||||
Nausea/vomiting | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Diarrhea | X | X | |||||
Rash | X | X | X | ||||
Other symptoms | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
Potentially Deadly/Disabling |
X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
*NOTE – main vector listed, but many tick born diseases may be vectored by other species of ticks, or different species causing same disease may be carried by different tick species.
NJ Ag & Health Urge Use of Free COVID-19 Testing For Farm Workers
Earlier this week, NJ Secretary of Ag Douglas Fisher released this attached letter, co-signed by Dept of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, urging all growers with farm labor to take advantage of opportunities to help protect your employees from COVID-19.
As the letter states,
“One program that is being implemented FREE OF CHARGE for all farms is a COVID-19 testing and education program through Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and local health departments. Along with free testing, the program provides education and other related support services. [Read more…]
Gov. Murphy to Sign Order Requiring Outdoor Face Coverings
As reported at njbiz.com Wednesday morning, NJ Governor Phil Murphy has indicated he will be signing “an executive order mandating that masks or other face coverings be worn outdoors, as the COVID-19 virus surges across the country and the transmission rate creeps up in New Jersey.”
The state currently requires the use of face coverings indoors and at many outdoor businesses, and strongly encourages their use when in crowded public spaces, such as at the beach. The new order will require that masks will have to be worn outdoors when social distancing is not possible.
There are many outdoor operations around the farm. Be sure to plan accordingly with supplies of masks/face coverings for all agricultural workers and harvesters, in addition to planning all field work with adequate space for individuals to keep socially distanced.
For more information on keeping you, your workers and your family safe, be sure to read and implement the recommendations in NJ’s “INTERIM CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) GUIDANCE FOR MIGRANT AND SEASONAL FARMWORKERS, THEIR EMPLOYERS, AND HOUSING PROVIDERS.”
RCE Agents Offer Marketing Tips With Del State U & USDA Northeast Climate Hub
Webinar Postponed ’til Fall!
Due to technical issues and low enrollment, this webinar has been postponed by the organizers and will be rescheduled for the fall.
Register here today (7/7/20) by 11pm!
Webinar: Part 2 in a series
Emergency Preparation & Dealing with COVID-19 on Farms: Alternative Marketing Strategies to Stay in Business
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Time: 12 – 1:15 PM
Use the link below to register by July 7, 2020, 11 PM EST. The Zoom link to the webinar will be e-mailed to all registered attendees prior to the webinar.
[link removed]
Small farmers and extension agents working with small farmers will learn best practices for communicating with consumers and meeting their demands.
Participants will learn how to:
- Use available resources to market your products
- Reach out to consumers online
- Use alternative marketing strategies to sustain and grow businesses
- Use online business opportunities for farm sales
Attendees will learn about available resources to help them manage logistics of the Covid-19 health crisis on their farms. Presenters will share information and solutions from the experts and answer questions from participants. Like the first webinar in this series, this meeting will address common problems most farmers are facing, what they are planning to do to stay in business and how well their plans are working. The webinar series also summarizes how extension programs can assist farmers through this difficult time.
Agenda (Q&A session after each presentation)
12 – 12:05 PM | Welcome & Introduction | Gulnihal Ozbay & Jason Challandes, DSU; Erin Lane, USDA Northeast Climate HUB |
12:05 – 12:25 PM | “Know Your Customers Know Your Prices” |
Richard VanVranken, Professor & County Extension Department Head (Small Farms & Farm Marketing), Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Atlantic County, New Jersey |
12:25 – 12:45 PM | “Meeting Customer Demands for Agricultural Products In response to the Covid-19 Pandemic” |
Stephen Komar, Associate Professor & Agriculture & Natural Resources County Agent II, County Extension Department Head (Plant and Animal Agriculture), Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Sussex County, New Jersey |
12:45 – 1:05 PM | “Online logistics and considerations with Direct Sales Models during Covid-19” | William J. Bamka, Associate Professor & Agriculture & Natural Resources County Agent II, County Extension Department Head of Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Burlington County in New Jersey, Crop Production and Agritourism |
1:05 – 1:15 PM | Closing Remarks & Information on Webinar Evaluation |
Dr. Ozbay and Ms. Lane |
This webinar series is moderated by Delaware State University Cooperative Extension (Dr. Gulnihal Ozbay) & USDA Northeast Climate Hub (Erin Lane). Webinar hosts are Ms. Megan Pleasanton & Mr. Jason Challandes (DSU Cooperative Extension).
Recorded Webinar Posted – COVID-19 Guidance for Ag Workers/Employers
- There have been no changes to the document since it was published, but one major point of discussion that you will hear in the recording was a comment made by a presenter that temperature monitoring should use a 99oF threshold instead of the 100.4oF threshold that was published in the guideline. Monique Purcell, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, who had worked closely with the NJDOH and NJDOL reps in development of the guidance document received clarification from them the next day that confirmed that the threshold remains 100.4oF.
- The other point addressed by several speakers was the need to work with and invite the FQHCs to your farm. They are charged with helping to educate your farm workers to understand this disease, how it spreads, and how to protect themselves (the importance of physical distancing and wearing face masks), as well as to provide testing for all employees on your farm, including the owner and family members working on the farm, free of charge.
*The NJDOH partnered with the NJDA and the NJDOL to create this guidance for agricultural employers focusing on precautions to help protect farm employees from COVID-19 on New Jersey farms and in farm labor housing. This webinar reviews these guidelines.