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Natalie Krebs
Health Reporter
I am the health reporter at Iowa Public Radio. I cover all health issues across the state.
Articles
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A reporter knew reaching workers would be hard. It proved even harder than imagined.
A year and a half after COVID-19 outbreaks tore through many of the nation's meatpacking plants, workers and their towns are still working on ways to enhance safety.
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“More workers have died from COVID-19 in the last 18 months in the meat and poultry industry, than died from all work-related causes in the industry in the past 15 years,” as one expert testified.
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Topics
The meatpacking plants have pulled in thousands of immigrant workers over the past two decades. They’re the economic center of the town, employing around 3,000 workers.
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This project was produced as part of the 2021 National Fellowship with USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism....
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_0b6a7.jpg?itok=vt466pdz "Amner Martinez runs a staffing agency in Des Moines. His family, who are originally from Guatemala, moved from California to Iowa in the 1990s. Most of his family has worked at the Tyson plant in Perry.")
Amner Martinez still doesn’t really know all the details from when his 74-year-old father Concepcion got really sick with COVID-19 near the beginning of the pandemic.
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_1ef17.jpg?itok=34Wn6IX5 "Amner Martinez runs a staffing agency in Des Moines. His family, who are originally from Guatemala, moved from California to Iow")
This project was produced as part of the 2021 National Fellowship with USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.
Other stories by Natalie Krebs include:
COVID struck the nation's meatpacking plants more than a year ago. But worker safety is still a contentious issue
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“More workers have died from COVID-19 in the last 18 months in the meat and poultry industry, than died from all work-related causes in the industry in the past 15 years,” as one expert testified.
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This project was produced as part of the 2021 National Fellowship with USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.
Other stories by Natalie Krebs include:
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Last spring, the coronavirus tore through the state’s meat processing plant facilities. What changes are being made as a result?