Yakima area hit hard by covid

This is my opinion. We are complacent as a country, open things up as it should and the masks are less frequent, the contact distance is decreasing, so we’re spiking in NC and Sc. It’s beach season too, so out of staters, close confines, so of course we’re spiking. I was expecting an increase how could it be any other way opening things up, so this herd immunity thing requires about a 70 % infection rate, so we’re floating at 7-8 % give or take. Not close. Stay safe wear a N 95 if you have one, yep it’s hot and it’s uncomfortable, but wear the best mask you can get.

 

I’ll happily volunteer to forgo all IPAs (including fresh hop beers this fall, God help me) if we can please get this shit under control ASAP. Many people are behaving as though the pandemic is over. As much as we’d like it to be, it’s not.

 

I think it doesn’t really matter. Most of the hops are harvested via machine and sent to pelletizers. Covid effects nothing about beer hops being harvested unless the owner is trying to make a point.

 

If there was a mandatory 3 week lockdown of every single thing back in April this would be a different story. I work a second job as a cook and we do pick up only. Tables in front of doors nobody comes in. People move the tables and come in no mask. They get kicked out. It’s crazy.

 

That's what I was thinking when some of the restrictions started loosening, it is the same time that the nice weather came to a lot of the colder states. Loosening restrictions, opening more places at the same time that more people are going out anyway because it's nice out, and people seem to act like this thing is over even though it's clearly not, not a good thing. I've still been staying at home for the most part when I don't need to go get something, and I'm not even vulnerable or at risk, but I know this thing could make anyone sick and some people don't even know it, so I'm trying to stay away from people as much as possible because I don't know who they've been with, and who they've been with, etc. Yeah it's nice out but now is not the time to party. I'd like to wait a little longer.

 

Here in Washington many places have been locked down since mid-March (at least in Seattle). Most places are still closed except for takeout. As far as I can tell this is becoming an urban vs. rural issue with many rural areas never having gotten the memo. This virus doesn’t care what ZIP code you live in. Out here places like Yakima are getting hit especially hard, probably because folks out there assumed this was just another big city problem and didn’t take precautions. But I have no idea, I’ve stayed within about a 15-mile radius for the last 3 months.

 

I unfortunately need to work. I couldn’t wait on the government furlough. Some people waited two months. Anyways I’ve seen this effect the beer world in that a lot of brewers around here are not distributing to stores. Some are. Some aren’t. Big boys are. Risk takers are. It has calmed down but it still exists. Those that are too hasty and or impatient will see. It’s always “can’t be me” until it is. I do NOT like the government. But if a mask is necessary then there must still be a hazard. “Takin muh freedoms” really isn’t the issue as it is people actions effect everyone. The new normal will take getting used to.

 

I dont believe a new normal needs to exist. 50 million people (676,000 US)died from Spanish flu and no freedoms were ever given away. I don’t see that happening for a smaller group of people. Meanwhile the percentage (1%) of the population that 676k accounted for in 1918 was much higher.

 

There is automation in the hop industry, but there are many people working the harvest. There are the ones running the top and bottom cutters in the field. There are a lot of truck drivers taking the bones of hops back to the pickers. The trucks are unloaded, the bones are hung on hooks by hand at some places. The crew on the pickers are running around clearing jams in the machines. There is a crew in the kilns. Once dried the hops are bailed. The bales go to the refrigerated storage, but are tested for temperature and moisture. Every Bale is numbered and tracked.

The pellitizer can run from September to the next summer. There are also facilities that make extract from the pellets.

The farms are very busy in the Fall, lots of people moving about. Some of the crews are seasonal. The same people will work different crops for planting to harvest, as things come on at different times. Some of those infected now might be usually on a fall harvest crew.

I've been to the YCH Hopschool in Yakima 3 times, highly recommend it to anyone interested.

 

This. Production in general is still very much necessary. Just as breweries still need to bottle, hops will need to be harvested. They still have demand. I’m sure those guys already wear enough PPE to begin with. Wearing gloves and masks, and a more strict hygiene regimen wouldn’t seem out of the norm to anyone in production. It shouldn’t pose much of a change as they are operating the machines rather than contacting the product directly. And in cases that they are, there’s PPE precautions for that. Your groceries are still being stocked by hands. And those products have passed through many hands on the way there. It would be insane to have it affect an agricultural product that hard.

 

I work on a covid unit with 5 other nurses taking care of 12 positive patients, nobody has been infected. What’s your point exacty?

I would say I’m at higher risk of getting the virus then them. I would think an entire stage of hop process can be done by 3-5 people while wearing masks.

 

My point was that there are more people working on the harvest on one farm than you estimate. There is still a lot of manpower required. I've seen it, have you?

 

No but I can’t fathom in the Industrial Age that we are currently living in that it can’t be done safely with masks. Why don’t you enlighten me? How many people are there exacty?

 

I find it hard to believe that 100s of people are out in the field in general. The hop bines are mechanically pulled into a harvester as they weight a metric fuck ton.

 

I'm sure they will be wearing masks, they wear other safety gear.
How many? At least an order of magnitude higher than you are thinking on each farm 50ish, or more. Some are spead out some work close together.

Edit - not all in the field. Might be 4 in the field 10 driving trucks, 5 unloading trucks, 10 in the pickers, 6 in the kilns, another 6 packing bales. Supervision at each operation.

Have a good night. Bedtime.

 

@beertunes they also said this about flattening the curve for healthcare and yet here we are and doctors and nurses are being laid off

over how many acres? I’m in a 1000sq ft nursing unit with 17 people (12 of those who are positive). Details are important.

 

There are plenty of videos. The processing is where most of the people are, not the fields.

See my edit above.