After two months away from their production lines, workers at Jeep and most other regional auto plants are returning to work this week. And while auto companies like Fiat Chrysler and the unions representing the workers have collaborated on myriad strategies to keep workers safe, there is one key component missing — adequate testing for coronavirus.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur on Friday put into the Congressional Record a call for more testing, which is the only way to adequately identify the workers who are infected with the coronavirus so they can be quarantined and so public health officials can do the contact tracing that will contain any outbreaks.
In her message in the record, Miss Kaptur pleaded for cooperation from manufacturing and labor alike. “My primary concern remains the workers, their health and safety, and the absolute necessity of embarking upon a COVID-19 testing regime that will protect them, their coworkers, and their families from the spread of the dreaded COVID-19 virus even as the governor has opened the doors to these plants.”
Miss Kaptur is right. The precautionary measures created to keep autoworkers safe while they return to building Jeeps and other models are impressive. The include redesigned work spaces, stringent disinfection procedures, staggered start times, and suspended in-person meetings.
These are smart changes, but they are not enough to keep Jeep workers safe. They are not enough to keep the community safe.
Toledo’s Jeep plant had the opportunity to be a leader, to set the standard for precautionary measures that kept workers safe and allowed the backbone of the American economy — manufacturing — to restart safely and sustainably.
Jeep could be the antithesis of the Smithfield pork-processing plant in South Dakota. Before the plant closed in mid-April, there were 644 cases of coronavirus among its workers or people who contracted the disease from Smithfield workers. Public health officials think that more than half the coronavirus cases in South Dakota are related to the Smithfield plant.
Learning from the mistakes of Smithfield, Jeep and other Ohio workplaces reopening now must do better. And that means testing employees for coronavirus.
The region cannot afford for the Jeep plant to become the epicenter of a new hotspot for the virus. Some union officials in Detroit have echoed Miss Kaptur’s call for better testing.
“We have to continue to push for this testing,” UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada told Reuters on Wednesday. “Unless we have testing weekly to keep sick people out of the plant there is always a risk.”
The region cannot afford for the Jeep plant to become the epicenter of a new hotspot for the virus.
We have learned much about coronavirus in the last three months. We’ve accomplished a great deal in making testing available. We have come so far in understanding how to keep people safe while getting back to work.
We cannot squander these gains by ignoring the most important aspect of reopening wisely.
Miss Kaptur is right. This is a matter of doing what’s right by workers. But it is also a matter of reason: Do a simple cost-benefit analysis.
If some untested but sick people go back to work, many more people could fall ill, and many, many more workers will be sick for an extended period of time — shutting down the plant for an extended time. Consider the costs. It is well worth the time and expense to test extensively.
First Published May 19, 2020, 4:00 a.m.
