Focusing on interventions with a high-risk population

Media Contact: Karina Rusk
831-759-1843

Salinas is known as the “salad bowl of the world” due to the abundance of fruits and vegetables that are grown here and shipped out across the nation and beyond. When it’s time to harvest crops every year in the spring and summer months, a large temporary workforce migrates to the Salinas area. This group of people is at an especially high risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 due to their ongoing close proximity to other workers in the fields and in small housing units when they are away from work.

Another effort made possible by the CSSP was working with agriculture companies in dispatching some of our registered nurses to provide COVID-19 outreach to agricultural workers throughout Monterey County in an effort to help keep this high risk population healthy. Nurses went out into the fields and into processing plants to share tips on how to stay healthy and safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As of July 1^st we were able to reach over 11,000 total workers at more than 15 companies in the Salinas Valley area,” Delgado said. “We are extremely proud of our nurses who participated in this community outreach program. I have no doubt that the prevalence of COVID-19 among this vulnerable population would have been much higher if it wasn’t for this proactive intervention.”

Salinas Valley Health video: Learn more about our Ag outreach effort here