Kansas congressman claims greater COVID-19 risk at Walmart than meatpacking plants
Rep. Roger Marshall, a physician and U.S. Senate candidate, claimed Thursday that people face a greater risk of catching COVID-19 while shopping at Walmart than working at meat packing plants in western Kansas.
During a call with reporters, the Kansas Republican voiced support for President Donald Trump’s order requiring meatpacking plants to stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to ensure grocery stores stay stocked.
Trump’s order follows a string of outbreaks at packing plants throughout the country, including Kansas. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said last week that it was tracking six coronavirus clusters related to Kansas meatpacking facilities, which were the source of a spike in the statewide total of cases.
Marshall, an OB-GYN from Great Bend, said he visited facilities in western Kansas and was impressed by safety measures adopted in response to the initial outbreaks. They include screening workers for fevers and providing with protective equipment.
“I think there’s a bigger chance getting the virus going into Walmart than at the packing plants,” said Marshall, who spent last week volunteering at a clinic in Kansas City, Kansas. “They do an incredible job there… They all have masks on. They all have face shields on. They’re six feet apart.”
Marshall made the comments during a call with the Kansas Farm Bureau, one of the state’s most powerful industry groups, which endorsed the congressman in the Senate race this week.
In a follow-up phone call, Marshall clarified that he wasn’t singling out Walmart, but was using the retail giant as “a generic term for a grocery store.”
He recounted how during a recent trip to a grocery store he was the only person wearing a mask and that other customers weren’t observing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation to stand six feet apart.
Marshall contrasted that with his trip to Cargill’s plant in Dodge City and National Beef’s facililty in Liberal, where employees go through a screening process as they enter.
The plants are using infrared thermometers to take employees’ temperatures and can ask in four different languages if they have symptoms, Marshall said.
“The big difference now is everybody has a face mask on. That doesn’t happen at Walmart… and there’s plexiglass between almost every station,” said Marshall.
“Their employees are more likely to get the virus when they go to get groceries or gas,” he added.
Kristi Zears, a spokeswoman for KDHE, said that meatpacking plants in southwest Kansas have the largest COVID-19 outbreak in the state and health agency is closely monitoring the situation. But she also thanked the facilities for taking action to mitigate the spread of the disease and protect workers.
Marshall is vying for the Republican nomination against former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, state Senate President Susan Wagle and several other candidates.
Marshall said that 25 percent of the nation’s fresh beef is processed in Kansas facilities and the president’s use of the Defense Production Act to keep them open would provide plants with additional resources during the pandemic.
However, the United and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents many employees at meatpacking facilities, warned Wednesday that Trump’s order lacks measures to ensure the safety of workers.
“Let me be clear, the best way to protect America’s food supply, to keep these plants open, is to protect America’s meatpacking workers,” Marc Perrone, the union’s president, said in a statement Wednesday.
In Missouri, employees at a Smithfield Foods facility in Milan are suing the Chinese-owned company for allegedly failing to protect workers.
Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, called the president’s order shortsighted and warned it “could put more workers in harm’s way and continue to damage our food processing capacity.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 11:56 AM with the headline "Kansas congressman claims greater COVID-19 risk at Walmart than meatpacking plants."
