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Cold, Crowded, Deadly: How U.S. Meat Plants Became a Virus Breeding Ground
寒冷、擁擠、致死：美國肉品廠如何成為病毒滋生地
With thousands of workers sick, plants are closing and the food supply is faltering.
由于成千上萬的工人生病，工廠關閉，食品供應持續衰退。
This is by Peter Waldman, Lydia Mulvany, and Polly Mosendz.
作者：彼得·沃爾德曼、莉迪亞·穆爾瓦尼和波利·莫森茲
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，拉斐爾·本杰明的家人懇求他待在家中，不要再去工作了，即使這會讓他丟掉工作。
He promised he would, but not until after April 10.
他答應這樣做，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.
這天將是他的工作周年紀念日，也是他在位于賓夕法尼亞州哈茲爾頓市的嘉吉公司豬牛肉加工廠工作的第17個周年紀念日。
—a milestone for topping up his pension when he retired in October.
他10月份退休時，這可以是他補足養老金的一個重要事件。
So Benjamin, 64, soldiered on, a second-shift worker earning $15.35 an hour.
于是，64歲的本杰明繼續留守，他是一名兩個班次輪班的工人，每小時掙15.35美元。
Around him, colleagues were falling ill; on the employee grapevine, people said it was the coronavirus.
他周圍的同事都在生病；員工中傳著的小道消息，說是因為新冠病毒。
Supervisors said that wasn't true and told workers not to discuss who might be infected.
主管們說那不是真的，并告訴工人們不要討論誰可能受到感染。
But before long, Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, ran through entire departments.
但是不久，新冠病毒引發的疾病在整個部門傳播開來。根據聯合食品與商業工人國際工會的數據，
By April 7, 130 of the plant's 900 employees had tested positive, according to the workers' union, United Food & Commercial Workers International,
根據聯合食品商業工人國際工會的數據，截至4月7日，該工廠900名員工中有130人檢測呈陽性，
but neither Cargill nor local officials were disclosing any numbers.
但嘉吉和當地官員均未透露任何數字。
Amid the information void, Benjamin kept working, with growing unease.
在缺乏信息的情況下，本杰明繼續工作，但心里卻感到越來越不安。
March was a time of spreading disease and denial across the U.S. meat and poultry industry.
三月份是疫情在美國肉類和家禽業傳播，但遭到否認的時期。
Laborers in the immense slaughterhouses and packing houses passed the contagion on processing lines and in locker rooms, then in their homes.
巨大的屠宰場和包裝廠的工人在加工生產線上接觸到傳染病，然后又把病毒帶回各自的家中。
Plants began to slow or to go idle. The toll on workers and the nation's food supply is only now becoming clear.
工廠開始減產或設備閑置，工人和國家食物供應的損失現在才變得明顯。
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，出現恐慌性購買的報道，特朗普總統和其他聯邦官員試圖向公眾保證食品供應是可靠的。
"You don't have to buy so much," he told Americans on March 15. "Take it easy. Relax."
“你不必購買那么多物品，”他在3月15日告訴美國人說，“別緊張”。
Plants were running overtime to meet the surge in demand.
為了滿足需求的激增，工廠加班加點。
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，美國農業部長桑尼·珀杜表示：“在美國，我們所有公民都有充足的食物。”
