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COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in U.S. meatpacking counties

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  • Saitone, Tina L.
  • Aleks Schaefer, K.
  • Scheitrum, Daniel P.

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the extent to which the presence of a large meatpacking (i.e., beef, pork, and broiler chicken) plant has affected county-level COVID-19 transmission dynamics. We find that—within 150 days after emergence of COVID-19 in a given county—the presence of a large beef packing facility increases per capita infection rates by 110%, relative to comparable counties without meatpacking plants. Large pork and chicken processing facilities increase transmission rates by 160% and 20%, respectively. While the presence of this type of industrial agricultural facility is shown to exacerbate initial disease transmission affecting large numbers of individuals in the community, over time daily case rates converge such that rates observed in meatpacking- and non-meatpacking counties become similar. In aggregate, results suggest that 334 thousand COVID-19 infections are attributable to meatpacking plants in the U.S. with associated mortality and morbidity costs totaling more than $11.2 billion.

Suggested Citation

  • Saitone, Tina L. & Aleks Schaefer, K. & Scheitrum, Daniel P., 2021. "COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in U.S. meatpacking counties," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:101:y:2021:i:c:s030691922100049x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2021.102072
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David A. Hennessy, 2005. "Slaughterhouse Rules: Animal Uniformity and Regulating for Food Safety in Meat Packing," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(3), pages 600-609.
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    Cited by:

    1. Azzam, Azzeddine & Gren, Ing-Marie & Andersson, Hans, 2023. "Comparative resilience of US and EU meat processing to the Covid19 pandemic," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    2. Dong, Diansheng & Stewart, Hayden & Dong, Xiao & Hahn, William, 2022. "Quantifying Consumer Welfare Impacts of Higher Meat Prices During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 2022(Economic ), April.
    3. Villas-Boas, Sofia B & Copfer, Jackie & Campbell, Nica, 2021. "Preferences for Sustainability and Supply Chain Essential Worker Conditions: Survey Evidence during COVID-19," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt0nv2n39w, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    4. Wood, Aaron D. & Berry, Kevin, 2024. "COVID-19 transmission in a resource dependent community with heterogeneous populations: An agent-based modeling approach," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; Meatpacking; Computational model robustness; Rural development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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