California COVID-19 workers’ comp claims soar

Early in the pandemic, José Guzman said he asked his managers at the Farmer John meat packing plant in Vernon, just south of Los Angeles, for a mask and hand sanitizer. “They said they were not responsible. They could not give us masks because they had no masks,” said Guzman, a 61-year-old from San Bernardino who commuted 60 miles to the plant where he worked as a meat-trimmer. “There was no social distancing – I could reach out and touch my fellow worker with my hand. They didn’t do the right thing at the beginning, so that’s why so many people got infected.”