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California’s businesses must follow new rules to protect workers from getting coronavirus on the job, while harvesting companies must minimize overcrowding in guest farmworker housing following a California Divide investigation<\/a>  that uncovered rampant coronavirus outbreaks this summer among a low-wage workforce putting fresh produce on America’s kitchen table.<\/p>\n The rulemaking body for the state’s workplace safety agency voted unanimously today to approve the requirements as part of a broader package of protections<\/a>  aimed at protecting millions of workers from getting coronavirus on the job. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s emergency standard is expected to take effect within 10 days and may be extended for up to 14 months.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Citing a joint investigation by CalMatters and The Californian Salinas for the California Divide<\/a>  that uncovered outbreaks among farmworkers brought from other countries, housed in crowded motel rooms and bussed to and from work by the dozen, Cal \/ OSHA wrote “there has been an overrepresentation of migrant temporary farmworkers testing positive for COVID-19. †<\/a> Under the new standards, workers must be housed in disinfected rooms with beds spaced six feet apart and sit at least three feet apart when transported to farm fields. Employers must do their best to keep workers in stable pods who sleep, bus and work together to minimize outbreaks.<\/p>\n Sandra Aguila of California Rural Legal Assistance in Santa Maria said the more than one hundred known COVID cases among guest workers brought to the US on H-2A visas there were “not isolated events.â€<\/p>\n “There is no room for complacency.†-ATTORNEY GENERAL XAVIER BECERRA<\/p>\n “In Santa Maria, you often see 30 H-2A workers being housed in a small 1200 square feet single family home, or as many as six workers housed in one motel room,†Aguila said. “Adopting the proposed regulations will reduce the risk of future deaths.â€<\/p>\n