35-year old Filipino meat-processing plant worker dies of COVID-19 in Red Deer, AB

A 35-year old Filipino meat-processing plant worker died on January 28, 2021, after contracting the coronavirus linked to his work, CBC reports.

Darwin Doloque, a permanent resident who immigrated from the Philippines, worked at the Olymel slaughterhouse in Red Deer, AB. The cause of his death has been attributed to the COVID-19 outbreak at his work at the Olymel facility, wherein Alberta Health Services (AHS) first declared its first outbreak on November 17, 2020.

Since the mid-November outbreak began, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) officials have inspected the Olymel facility multiple times, according to a spokesperson for Alberta’s labour minister.

A Concern For Public Health

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, as many as 1 in 5 workers have been infected in the Olymel worksite, the AHS has sent a letter to Olymel cautioning the outbreak “has become a concern for public health.”

Olymel has only announced its temporary shut down three weeks after Doloque’s death. Both AHS and OHS reportedly said they were not involved in the plant’s decision to close.

Tom Hesse, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401, said the union had called for a temporary shutdown of the facility on Feb. 5, and the provincial government and the company were contacted to discuss concerns in the workplace but to no success. Both the provincial government and the company had been largely unresponsive, according to the union.

These unionised workers continued to work amidst the outbreak, and days before and after the January 28th death of Doloque due to COVID-19. As the coronavirus positive cases grew, Olymel employees’ concerns and fears also grew rapidly. Not only do they fear for their own health and the health of their families, they fear too of losing their jobs if identified speaking on their ordeal at the workplace amidst the coronavirus spread. Several workers have also shared the tremendous impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on their mental health and wellbeing.