As COVID-19 cases in the San Joaquin Valley continue to climb, the Fresno County Department of Agriculture recently secured nearly one million masks to help protect the county’s agricultural workers.
Melissa Cregan, the agricultural commissioner for the county, said the masks came from California’s Department of Food and Agriculture and the Office of Emergency Services.
“We’ve probably received over 800,000 of the face coverings and we’ve distributed probably over 700,000 of those,” said Cregan.
Cregan says she’s currently doing outreach to the local agriculture industry to see if more masks are needed. For now, the process to receive PPE for agricultural workers is fairly simple, she said.
“There isn’t necessarily any sort of specific documentation that’s required. We simply ask what the nature of the business is and if it’s agricultural related then we will provide the masks,” Cregan said.
Cregan adds any farmworkers who aren’t being provided masks at work are encouraged to reach out to the Fresno Department of Agriculture or inform their employer about this resource.
