商业周刊:最后雇佣却先遭解雇(8)（在线收听）

Cold, Crowded, Deadly: How U.S. Meat Plants Became a Virus Breeding Ground

寒冷、拥挤、致死：美国肉品厂如何成为病毒滋生地

With thousands of workers sick, plants are closing and the food supply is faltering.

由于成千上万的工人生病，工厂关闭，食品供应持续衰退。

This is by Peter Waldman, Lydia Mulvany, and Polly Mosendz.

作者：彼得·沃尔德曼、莉迪亚·穆尔瓦尼和波利·莫森兹

By late March, Rafael Benjamin's family was pleading with him to stay home from work even if it cost him his job.

到了三月底，拉斐尔·本杰明的家人恳求他待在家中，不要再去工作了，即使这会让他丢掉工作。

He promised he would, but not until after April 10.

他答应这样做，但要等到4月10日以后。

That would be his work anniversary, his 17th at Cargill Inc.'s pork and beef processing plant in Hazleton, Pa.

这天将是他的工作周年纪念日，也是他在位于宾夕法尼亚州哈兹尔顿市的嘉吉公司猪牛肉加工厂工作的第17个周年纪念日。

—a milestone for topping up his pension when he retired in October.

他10月份退休时，这可以是他补足养老金的一个重要事件。

So Benjamin, 64, soldiered on, a second-shift worker earning $15.35 an hour.

于是，64岁的本杰明继续留守，他是一名两个班次轮班的工人，每小时挣15.35美元。

Around him, colleagues were falling ill; on the employee grapevine, people said it was the coronavirus.

他周围的同事都在生病；员工中传着的小道消息，说是因为新冠病毒。

Supervisors said that wasn't true and told workers not to discuss who might be infected.

主管们说那不是真的，并告诉工人们不要讨论谁可能受到感染。

But before long, Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, ran through entire departments.

但是不久，新冠病毒引发的疾病在整个部门传播开来。根据联合食品与商业工人国际工会的数据，

By April 7, 130 of the plant's 900 employees had tested positive, according to the workers' union, United Food & Commercial Workers International,

根据联合食品商业工人国际工会的数据，截至4月7日，该工厂900名员工中有130人检测呈阳性，

but neither Cargill nor local officials were disclosing any numbers.

但嘉吉和当地官员均未透露任何数字。

Amid the information void, Benjamin kept working, with growing unease.

在缺乏信息的情况下，本杰明继续工作，但心里却感到越来越不安。

March was a time of spreading disease and denial across the U.S. meat and poultry industry.

三月份是疫情在美国肉类和家禽业传播，但遭到否认的时期。

Laborers in the immense slaughterhouses and packing houses passed the contagion on processing lines and in locker rooms, then in their homes.

巨大的屠宰场和包装厂的工人在加工生产线上接触到传染病，然后又把病毒带回各自的家中。

Plants began to slow or to go idle. The toll on workers and the nation's food supply is only now becoming clear.

工厂开始减产或设备闲置，工人和国家食物供应的损失现在才变得明显。

By mid-March there were reports of panic buying, and President Trump and other federal officials sought to reassure the public that the food supply was sound.

到3月中旬，出现恐慌性购买的报道，特朗普总统和其他联邦官员试图向公众保证食品供应是可靠的。

"You don't have to buy so much," he told Americans on March 15. "Take it easy. Relax."

“你不必购买那么多物品，”他在3月15日告诉美国人说，“别紧张”。

Plants were running overtime to meet the surge in demand.

为了满足需求的激增，工厂加班加点。

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue weighed in on April 15: "In the United States, we have plenty of food for all of our citizens."

4月15日，美国农业部长桑尼·珀杜表示：“在美国，我们所有公民都有充足的食物。”