COVID HOUSING CHANGES Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. After months of battling with the governor, state agencies have now revised the farmworker housing rules and dropped mask and social distancing requirements for fully vaccinated workers.WAFLA Executive Director Dan Fazio says it only makes sense …
FAZIO … “So, we’re out there trying to do the right thing, and it’s tough when we have a governor who is making it hard on us.”
Fazio says it shows us our hard work has not been for nothing …
FAZIO … “We just needed a clear indication from the governor that if you do the right thing, we can get through this. And, our people have done the right thing. The people with the temporary worker housing licenses have done everything they’ve been asked.”
Fazio says farmers have done everything asked of them …
FAZIO … “They put together these testing protocols. They put together vaccination protocols. And, we need to know that when we do the right thing, there’s an off ramp. And that’s what we’re looking for, say once you’re fully vaccinated, we can get everyone vaccinated and then we can get back to normal.”
The rule changes, Fazio says were long overdue …
FAZIO … “This regulation, you know, has been rolled over four times and we’ve spent millions, farmers have spent millions and millions of dollars complying with the regulations and we don’t know what regulations are going to be enforced, but we know what the regulations say on a piece of paper.”
Fazio doesn’t blame the Department of Labor or Health Department that he says have both been very cooperative throughout this ordeal.