UK Meat-Processing Plants Are COVID-19 Hotspots
Across the UK, hundreds of workers at meat-processing plants and abattoirs have tested positive for COVID-19.
One such place – a chicken-processing plant on Anglesey – has seen over 175 cases among workers.
The UK isn’t alone: there have been similar outbreaks across Europe and in the US. Germany’s coronavirus reproduction number (R rate) jumped to 2.88 after a COVID-19 outbreak in a meat-processing plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, which has led to 1,500 new cases.
Because of their frigid temperatures and cramped conditions, meat-processing plants around the globe have become COVID-19 hotspots.
Eating Meat Has Deadly Consequences
Experts say that the COVID-19 outbreak originated in a “wet market” in Wuhan, China, where humans had direct contact with live animals and dead animal flesh.
Now, this deadly disease is sweeping through blood-soaked, offal-strewn meat-processing plants and endangering workers, their families, and the whole community. And like wet markets, squalid abattoirs and meat factories are known to be hotbeds for disease.
According to Public Health England, “Many (60 to 80% [of]) emerging infections are derived from an animal source.” Filthy factory farms, abattoirs, and meat markets threaten the health of every human being on the planet by providing a breeding ground for deadly pathogens like the ones behind COVID-19, SARS, bird flu, and more.
As COVID-19 spreads like wildfire from worker to worker, PETA is calling for abattoirs and meat-processing plants to shut down and stay closed, for everyone’s protection.
What You Can Do
Not only is animal agriculture responsible for deadly pandemics and putting human lives at risk, it also causes other animals immense suffering and is destroying the planet.
Humans’ mistreatment of other animals is harming not only them but also us, and now is the time for each and every person to take responsibility for our part.
The link between outbreaks of diseases like COVID-19 and eating meat is undeniable – and the solution is clear: to prevent future pandemics, humans must stop abusing other animals and go vegan.
