The Daily - One Meat Plant, One Thousand Infections: Revisiting Achut Deng

Episode Date: July 15, 2020

For the remainder of this week, “The Daily” is revisiting episodes with people we met in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic to hear what has happened to them since our original conversations were aired.One of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the United States was inside the Smithfield pork factory in Sioux Falls, S.D. Today, we revisit our conversation with a worker at the plant, a refugee who survived civil war and malaria only to find her life and livelihood threatened anew — and ask her how she has been doing since. Guests: Caitlin Dickerson, who covers immigration for The New York Times, and Achut Deng, a Sudanese refugee who works for Smithfield. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Refugees from around the world worked at the Smithfield pork factory. Then they faced mounting illness and the sudden loss of their jobs.

Hey, it's Michael. This week, we're revisiting people we met in the early weeks of the pandemic, listening back, and hearing what's happened to them since our original conversation. Today, Achute Dang, a pork factory worker in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It's Wednesday, July 15th. It's Wednesday, July 15th. I came to America thinking I can never go through hell. But what if this comes to me? This virus is very dangerous.

It caught everybody off guard, including myself. I was never prepared for it. From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today, one of the largest outbreaks of the coronavirus in the U.S. has been inside a meat processing plant in South Dakota. My colleague Caitlin Dickerson speaks with one of its workers. It's Monday, May 4th. As an immigration reporter, as soon as I hear that COVID-19 is starting to spread across the country, I start thinking about who are the most vulnerable people in this pandemic.

And right away, meat and poultry plants come to mind because these facilities tend to be staffed by immigrants. There's going to be a lot of pressure on workers to show up for work because they've been deemed essential by the federal government. And because of the nature of the work, the facilities are massive. And often you have thousands of people working at a single time, and they literally stand shoulder to shoulder. They're touching all the time. Hello? Are you there? Oh, shoot, you just dropped out. Something happened. So I'm put in touch with a woman named Achute Dang. We did it. Yes, we did. Whew, we did it. Yes, we did.

Just to start out a shoot, can you just kind of introduce yourself and tell us what work you do? So my name is Achut Deng. I work with Smithfield. We produce pork. Achut is a shift lead at the Smithfield Pork Plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And I am a lead person for one department, eight floor conversion. She works in the conversion department, deboning and processing all different cuts of pork. She's 35 and she's a single mom of three boys. Give me a second, okay? My son just come in. Give me a second. Who are trying to get their homework done while we talk. Sorry, I'm back. You're back. You're back. Okay, so how did you come to work at Smithfield? Do you want me to go from South Sudan to Ethiopia to Kenya and to America? Yeah.

Okay. So yes, I was born in South Sudan, But then when I was six years old, we had a terrorist attack in the village. Achut was born in Sudan, and she became an orphan when she was six years old during the country's civil war. And we walked to Kenya. And that was in 1990, in 1991 still. And that was in 1990, in 1991 still. She grew up in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, where life was really hard. They created the school, but pretty much people go and sit under the tree because there was no building or classroom or anything like that in the beginning. Her school was a shady spot beneath a large tree where children wrote their English lessons with sticks in the dirt.

She often went days without having food or fresh water. A lot of her friends died. She didn't know if she was ever going to leave, so she took life one day at a time. going to leave. So she took life one day at a time. I would say it was just surviving because you don't know what would happen tomorrow, you know. And then in the year 2000, her life changed completely. I got the news that I was, I'm going to get a second chance of life. I'm going to go to the United States. She was chosen for a program that relocated Sudanese orphans. Oh my God, it was the happiest feeling for me.

I could not believe. I didn't go to sleep. The next day I went to school. I told my friends. Yeah. She moved to Kansas City and started a life in America. She graduated high school and started community college. And then she starts working as a waitress and then in her late 20s doing private security.

And then how do you get to Sioux Falls, South Dakota? You know, I always tell people I moved to Sioux Falls for a very stupid reason, thinking that I find a man. So that was pretty much a reason right there. I moved in with my youngest son's father. Then we broke up. Okay. And how did you hear about the Smithfield factory for the first time? He actually told me about it because before I moved here, I told him I cannot go a month without a job because a lot of people are relying on me and most importantly, my kids. So that's when he told me, oh, yeah, there is a company here, Smithfield. And when you were hearing about it, what were people saying? It was good things. Your start wages with Smithfield was $12.95.

That is a very good pay. They have health care, health insurance. So a lot of people came to Sioux Falls because of Smithfield and what it was offering to people. I know a lot of Sudanese families came here because of Smithfield. So when I went and put in my application, right in there, they told me, OK, you start tomorrow. Wow. And I started as a wizard knife operator. tomorrow. Wow. And I started as a wizard knife operator. And for someone who's never heard of Smithfield or been to the plant, can you just walk through what exactly it is that you guys do there?

So Smithfield, we receive live hogs, slaughter them, cut them into pieces. What I mean by that, by cutting off hams' legs. We make bacon, ham, even hot dogs. Cheese hot dogs, we have them. Those are the things we do at Smithfield. So it's the entire pig that come alive turn into so many things afterwards. And what is a wizard knife? It's a circle knife that goes into this electric thing and you turn it off and on. And what is it used for? They use wizard knife to trim off fat from the loin until it's pretty much all meat, just meat without fat. So picture a massive factory floor with giant chunks of pork zooming by on a conveyor belt.

And Achute and the other wizard knife operators are responsible for shaving fat off of the meat as it zooms past them. How many pigs are processed there every day? 10,000 or more pig. That's huge. Yeah. And they're responsible for four to five percent of all the pork that's produced in the United States. So when you first started, what did you think of it? How did it go? What did I think of Smithfield? Hard work. Hard work is what I thought of it. But you're not really thinking of how hard it is. You are thinking of money, you know, and everything that you, you know, once you get the paycheck, you are able to pay for the apartment. You are able to put foods on the table. These were the things

that I was thinking. And what was it like for you physically in the beginning, starting out? Once you start doing something for the first time, something that you've never done, your muscle is going to reject it. Your body is going to reject it. So I was always sore. once you start doing something for the first time, something that you've never done, your muscle is going to reject it. Your body is going to reject it. So I was always sore. I was always, my wrist was sore. My arm, you know, went numb.

So after work, I would come home and put ice, like, on my shoulder, on my wrist, and then take ibuprofen. And I did that every night. Wow. Until one day I went to first aid, and I talked to the nurse, and the nurse was very, very nice, outgoing, and she said, you know what, let me give you this advice.

You know, this job is a hard work. It's a very hard work. You've been doing this with a knife for a year now, and your wrist is hurting, your arm hurt, your shoulder hurt. I would do one job for about a year, but after that, sign another job. That way you have a rotation in your body. So she takes this advice, and over the next couple of years, she starts moving around the factory to different jobs. She eventually becomes a shift lead and she starts working a lot of overtime, usually 11 to 12 hours a day, six days a week. But it really pays off.

She starts to feel comfortable financially. I get paid $18.70 an hour. What does that higher hourly wage meant for your life? My boys, all three of them, I can give them what I never have, which is a better life at a young age. Last year, I took them to Disney World. That's just something that when I went there, I cried, but it was a tears of happiness. I'm bringing my kids. I am American by papers. I bring my kids here. And that was something I did. I was so proud of myself. Between the new salary she's making and the overtime that she's working,

she's able to move into a bigger apartment with her sons. And she's also supporting five family members who are still living in Africa. So this job offered me to take care for everybody else, not just my boys, you know. So you're basically supporting nine people on your salary from Smithfield? Yes. Wow. So that's why I pick up over time, regardless of me being tired. Every morning when I go to work, I put everything that the company offered me in order to make sure this food that I'm making doesn't have anything that can go and harm someone. Someone. Because, you know, this food is going to families. It's going to children. It's going to mothers. It's going to fathers, uncles, aunts, everyone around the world. Working at the meat factory, I'm making food for people around the world. I think of that every day.

It sounds like you take a lot of pride in your job. Yes, I do. Do you remember the first time you heard about the coronavirus? Yeah, I would say there was some time in January, February. We're just talking about it. It's kind of like it's something that happened in China and it's going to stay in China. Then come the beginning of March, it was Seattle. And then the next morning I went to work and now everybody at work is talking about it. But it's still most of us as refugees, immigrants, it's like, it's probably, you know, people are maybe just being extra about it right now. Maybe it's not that bad. Why do you think you reacted that way?

For me personally, I'm like, okay, if it becomes to effect, I'm like, I've been through so much. OK, if it becomes to affect, I'm like, I've been through so much. If this is just like a virus, you're talking to someone who had malaria. You know, I survived that. So it's like, OK, if it's like if it's going to be like malaria, I can go through it. It's just going to be like any other thing that I've been through. But then on Saturday, March 21st, things start to change at Smithfield. When I went to work that morning, I saw a lot of people with cleaning up the handrails, doors, bathroom doors with wipes.

And I'm like, what's going on? And one of the people told me, yeah, this thing is serious. I shoot. This thing is serious. But, you know, I'm thinking now, OK, 150 to 160 people in one shift. You're sitting in the break room where tables are very small. You have six people in one table. And then later that day, she gets an email.

That time was when I received an email, a video from the CEO, Smithfield CEO. Hi, I'm Ken Sullivan, president and CEO of Smithfield Foods. I'd like to talk to you today about COVID-19 or coronavirus. So I watched the video from the CEO about this virus is not coming from food. According to the FDA and CDC, there's no evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted by food. And America needs food. Every family needs food. We don't want people to struggle from hunger, let alone a virus. American families. We feed millions of people every day, every single day. It's a business with no shortcuts and no days off. Most of our team members work side by side on production lines in our facilities.

We can't stay home. We can't telecommute. Food, after all, does not get made on the Internet. So our company is not going to get shut down. We're here. We're always here. We're a food company. And despite COVID-19, indeed because of it, we're working around the clock to do what we do best, and that's deliver good food responsibly.

How did it feel to you to have your job deemed essential in the middle of a pandemic when people all over the country are panicking? You know, your work is deemed fundamental to keeping the country going. At one point, I was negative about it. At one point, I was like, wow, do that mean my life don't matter? And here I am putting my life at risk coming to work because people around the world need food. But I said, okay, I'm just going to have to stay positive. And if people need food and I'm able to do that for them, And if people need food and I'm able to do that for them, then I'm just going to put my life to God to protect me and not get sick.

Did you ever consider just staying home from work and not going in? To be honest, I did not. I was just thinking of, no, I need this job. I need to keep working so I can support my family. And it's, you know, thinking about it now, it's like, it hurts. It hurts that you didn't think about yourself. Yes. Yeah. We'll be right back.

By the end of March, hospitals across the country are being overrun by COVID patients. Governors start shutting down businesses and ordering people to shelter in their homes. But in South Dakota, there are still only a few COVID cases. And a chute is still going to work until Saturday, March 28th. Now, Saturday, my superintendents came up around, I would say at about three o'clock and he said, okay, I want to have a meeting. They asked me if I have any fever, cough, any, you know, shortness of breath. And I said, no, I'm doing good. And he said one of the machine operator tested positive.

I say, what? Wow. That person, I worked with her that morning for like, I would say about 15 minutes. They said, okay, well, you got to go home because you had close contact with. And I'm like, really? You got, you know, I didn't say it out loud, but I'm thinking they're being silly. And that's when they told me you're going to be under quarantine for the next 14 days. But I'm still going to get paid 40 hours. Is that enough for me?

It's not enough for me as a person who do overtime. Overtime is like 500 extra, $500. That for me, it covered a lot of things. What do I do? I can't go and get another job. But at that time I was told it's just two weeks. So I'm like, okay, two weeks, I was told it's just two weeks. So I'm like, okay, two weeks, I'll be okay. It's still going to drop me back one step backward, but I'll be okay. And then Monday night was when to bed feeling okay. I woke up about 2 a.m. with this sharp pain on my body.

It just felt like someone stabbed me. So, you know, I went to the bathroom, and I said, okay, maybe if I take a shower, a cold shower, it's going to be better. So I turned the water on, and it just, when the water hit my body, it feel like a bunch of rocks was getting thrown on my body. So I turned the water off. I took the towel to dry myself and my skin. I just couldn't use the towel.

It just, my skin hurt. So I'm like, okay, I'm freaking out. And then Thursday night, my body at this point is so exhausted. Even walking, it's like I'm pushing myself. I just felt like something heavy sit right on my chest. Now the fear really kicked in because now I'm having problem breathing.

I said, okay, if it's going to be better for me, I'm going to stay up. I don't want to sleep because if I go to sleep, chances are going to be I'm not going to wake up. That's when I left my room I came to the living room and just sat there because I said, okay, if I stay in my room and I die, I don't want my kids to find me dead in the room. What was that like for you emotionally? I mean, what's going through your I went right back to my childhood, to everything that I've been through in life. And now my kids, if I die, my kids will go through the same thing I've been through.

The loneliness. You know, not having anybody to check into like a parent. I'm thinking, I bring these kids to this world. I survived through everything that I went through. I said, I haven't even had a chance to tell them. They don't know their mom. They don't know what their mom went through. All they know is that my mom is a workaholic.

She would do anything to give us a better life. That's all they know. It's not a perfect world. I'd make it perfect for them. But if I die, this world is not perfect anymore. It sounds like a horrible, horrible night. Yeah, it was. It was one of the worst nights ever.

So while Achute is at home sick with the coronavirus, the situation at Smithfield is evolving. This Smithfield pork processing plant is now a coronavirus hotspot. More and more of her colleagues are falling ill. How many other cases do you hear about among your colleagues? Oh, a lot, a lot, a lot. Oh, a lot, a lot, a lot. I think within the South Sudanese community alone, I think we have like at least 40 people that I know. But in my department, I was told that it went up to 80 in one department, 80 people. And how big is your department?

On a good day that people showed up, it's 155. The outbreak at that Sioux Falls plant is among the worst clusters of coronavirus in the country. About 250 workers there tested positive for coronavirus. 350 workers tested positive for COVID-19. And as the days pass, it keeps getting worse. The number of cases skyrockets, up to more than 400 Smithfield workers who are sick. And the governor calls on the head of the company to stop production. One of the nation's largest food processors, Smithfield Foods, will close its pork processing plant in South Dakota for further cleaning. So on April 12th, the president of Smithfield announces he's going to close the plant indefinitely and all the workers are sent home. This morning, there are fears the nation's food supply chain is at a breaking point

after more than a dozen major meat processing plants have become COVID-19 hotspots. Meanwhile, food processing plants across the country are getting hit hard with COVID. Other major companies like Tyson start raising the alarm that they're having trouble producing and delivering food to the nation's grocery stores because of the virus. Meanwhile, President Trump announced an executive order to compel meat processing plants to remain open. And last week, President Trump signs an executive order declaring meat and poultry plants as part of the nation's critical infrastructure, as a way to pressure the plants to keep producing food. In Sioux Falls, the plant is still closed. Smithfields says it will continue to pay workers for 40 hours a week until they go back to work. And it's speeding up plans to reopen the plant as quickly as possible. But that's also raised questions about whether it can do so safely.

How are you feeling now physically? Physically, I feel good. I'm still having a little bit of headache, but that's like almost an everyday thing when you are a mom and you know, so I'm not freaking out over it. But my fever this morning is still at a hundred and I have no idea why. I'm just trying to get it down to like 99 at least before I call my doctor to go for a check-in, but I cannot afford to stay home for a long time. I would give myself a month, and if it goes after four weeks, no, it wouldn't be good for me at all. It sounds like as soon as you start feeling better, your focus goes from your health back to your finances. Yes, that is correct.

So now my focus is to try to take care of myself as possible to where when this company opened back up, then I'm ready to go. So that's where my focus is. Achut, thank you so much for talking to us about your experience. You're welcome. And thank you very much for at least giving me the voice. A lot of people don't understand the living of the refugee camp. I don't take anything for granted because of what I've been through.

And because of what I see happening to other kids. That did not make it. But I'm pretty sure they are looking over me. They are watching me. And I'm going to make them proud. Shortly after we spoke with Achute, the Smithfield plant reopened and she returned to work. The plant has introduced several new safety precautions, including personal protective equipment, plexiglass barriers, and on-site testing for the coronavirus. testing for the coronavirus. A federal investigation into the original conditions at the plant,

which began in May, continues. But Smithfield has taken an aggressive approach to the inquiry. When the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration sought health records related to the plant from South Dakota's government, Smithfield sought to quash the requests in court. After hearing from dozens of daily listeners, Achute has begun to see her experience in a new light and now recognizes the power of her voice. She's thinking about writing a book in the hopes of inspiring women and young people with her life story.

We'll be right back. is walking back a policy that would have stripped international college students of their U.S. visas if their coursework was entirely online. The plan had thrown the world of higher education into turmoil and prompted lawsuits from both colleges and states' attorneys general. Now, under an agreement reached by the administration and colleges, international students can remain in the country, even if all their classes are remote. And the White House is ordering that hospitals bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when reporting data about the coronavirus. The administration said that the decision would streamline the reporting process, but experts fear it may allow the government

to distort the data for political gain. Rather than go to the CDC, which traditionally gathers data on treatments, supplies, and hospital capacity. It will now go to the Department of Health and Human Services, which answers directly to the president. Finally, We've fought a good fight in this race. We've taken a case to the people of Alabama, and the people of Alabama have spoken.

They want a new leader, a new fresh face to go to Washington. I think we're going to have... Jeff Sessions, the first U.S. Senator to endorse Donald Trump for president, and later his attorney general, lost his bid for the Republican Senate nomination in Alabama after a race in which Trump campaigned against him. Sessions had infuriated Trump by recusing himself as attorney general from the Russia investigation, a move that eventually led to his dismissal. Sessions lost to a political newcomer, Tommy Tuberville, a former college football coach. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.