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Unpacking the Pandemic

The Tyson facilities can be seen throughout Storm Lake. The first plant opened in the town in the 1930s.
Natalie Krebs
/
IPR
The Tyson facilities can be seen throughout Storm Lake. The first plant opened in the town in the 1930s.

Unpacking the Pandemic

Iowa's meat processing workforce is incredibly diverse. COVID-19 outbreaks at the plants last year exposed many vulnerabilities in this group.
Storm Lake is home to a population where more than a third identify as Latino or Hispanic and nearly one in five identify as Asian.
Natalie Krebs
/
IPR
How one small Iowa city continues to deal with the effects of a major outbreak
Natalie Krebs
Cómo una pequeña ciudad de Iowa sigue lidiando con los efectos de un grande brote de COVID-19
Amner Martinez runs a staffing agency in Des Moines. His family, who are originally from Guatemala, moved from California to Iowa in the 1990s. Most of his family has worked at the Tyson plant in Perry.
Natalie Krebs
/
IPR
Health
Many of the employees at Iowa's meatpacking plants were already in vulnerable positions. Then COVID hit the plants
Natalie Krebs
(From left to right) Isabel Djaroun, her daughter Nadia, Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz and Micaela and Martín pose for a family photo in their home in Sioux City. Both Ortiz parents were working in meat packing plants when COVID-19 became widespread.
Kassidy Arena
/
IPR
Iowa News
It didn't kill them, it made them stronger. An Iowa meatpacking family's battle with COVID
Kassidy Arena
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