• Why are COVID rates so high in the Central Valley?
• UC Merced professor has an unsettling answer
A new study from the University of California, Merced, finds a link between low-wage work and the spread of COVID-19 in the Central Valley.
The Central Valley is now a focus of efforts to control spread of the often-deadly virus that causes COVID-19. The emergence of the region as a hot spot in the pandemic is explored in a new study from UC Merced’s Community and Labor Center.
Researchers found that California counties with high numbers of low-wage workers are seeing higher incidence of COVID-19, suggesting a link between so-called “worker distress” and spread of the virus.
