Sunday, January 30, 2022

News from the Vineyards

"Three of my relatives, all Mixteco farmworkers in California, died of COVID-19 last year. As we mourn, we wonder if diabetes played a role in their deaths." 

~ ARCENIO J. LÓPEZ  

"Omicron latest health threat to Mixteco farmworkers in Fresno" | The Fresno Bee

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article257810118.html

"Today, soda can be a status symbol. Farmworkers drink it instead of water to show they rank higher than those who can’t afford it. I worked in strawberry fields, so I know that workers also guzzle highly sugared, caffeinated drinks for the same reason my grandmother consumed coffee – to have enough energy to endure arduous hours, filling as many produce flats as possible to be able to pay for rent, child care, transportation and food. I saw firsthand what researchers say: that the high rates of diabetes among farmworkers are due to a poor diet linked to long working hours."

Read more at: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article257810118.html#storylink=cpy

It's not the same thing, but I remember so many restaurant workers drinking so much free soda. It helped with getting through work shifts.

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