All this week KCBS Radio is examining how the pandemic is affecting the people who harvest and process food in the Central Valley. In part one, a nonprofit manager shared how he pivoted his organization when needs changed drastically. In part two, workers speak out about high-risk conditions on the job. In part three, we met some of the people who risk their lives to pick our fruit, but still struggle to make ends meet.
Today in part four of this special series, Kathy Novak reports on how school closures are adding to the pressure and reducing their incomes.
We are back on the road with Armando Valdez, the community leader we met in part one of this series. Pulling into the next stop at Raisin City, there is already a line of people waiting to pick up the boxes of food he has come to hand out.
Maria Solan says she needs the extra help now since her husband is the only one working, because she has to look after her kids.
“The babysitter who usually watches my daughter told me she does not want to take the risk right now,” she told KCBS Radio.
With schools closed and people keeping their distance, other women here are in a similar position. They are now relying on a single paycheck, often for large households.
That is the situation at Laura Garcia’s house, where eight children are hanging out in the living room. Five of them are her own, then there is her niece, Yesenia, who lives with her, plus two others she is babysitting. The ones in school are all sharing one internet hotspot.
“We have been having problems with the connection,” Garcia told KCBS Radio. “It cuts out a lot. It’s a problem for two of the girls. They are behind in their classes because of the bad connection.”
Since her husband is an essential worker coming and going during a pandemic, there is also concern about them sharing more than Wi-Fi.
18-year-old Yesenia is starting her senior year from home. She has also been working in the fields in her spare time so she can send money to her parents in Mexico. She says she is being safe.
“We work separated,” she told KCBS Radio. “And also we cover our face. Like normal.”
But that is still not quite normal for everyone.
Nancy Estrada is worried about her husband going to his job at a local dairy.
“There have been problems with his coworkers getting sick,” she told KCBS Radio. “Some of them do not want to wear masks and one of them got sick.”
But if her husband doesn’t work, they will lose their home. Their trailer is provided as part of his pay package.
The boss owns all her neighbors’ homes, too. One of those neighbors got COVID.
“He doesn’t get it because every eight days he goes to the cockfights,” Estrada lamented. “There’s another family that gets together every week or so to have a big reunion with lots of tables and lots of men gathering.”
Valdez’s colleague Jenny Rodriguez told KCBS Radio, “I’m a Mexican-American, and in my culture we love to get together and party and carne asada and all that. Well, you can’t do that.”
She thinks it may be one of the reasons this region became a COVID hotspot.
“It’s not just the employment and lack of enforcement,” she said. “It’s also oneself, us, not doing what you’re supposed to do, which means wearing masks when you’re out in public, washing your hands, etc.”
In part five, we’ll meet one Central Valley grower who has taken it upon himself to make that public service message larger than life.