BY PHILIP J CUNNINGHAM
The sudden outbreak of Covid-19 at a wholesale food market on the outskirts of Beijing in Fengtai is an unwelcome reminder that there is still much to be learned about this particular coronavirus and its means of transmission. The world’s attention to the mysterious outbreak was first riveted to a wet market in Wuhan, which accounted for a high percentage of early cases.
Leaving the question of ultimate origin of the virus to the research of scientists, it still seems fair to speculate that there is something about markets that requires immediate attention.
Wet markets have gotten a bad name, unfairly so in the sense that cultural prejudices have been brought to bear. Supermarket shoppers, especially in the West, are accustomed to buying meat and produce wrapped up, packaged and branded, no questions asked. The fish are no longer swimming, the chickens no longer clucking, and the food chain is an abstraction.
Traditional Asian markets, and farmer’s markets in the West are a step closer to fresh food, the desirability of which speaks for itself, but sometimes problems arise on account of freshness.
Indonesia is reckoned to be at a crossroads as Covid-19 wreaks havoc on many of the nation’s 12,000 pasars, or traditional markets, where crowding also contributes to risk, especially in Java. But it’s not just traditional wet markets of the sort that can be found across Asia that have attracted negative attention as nodes for outbreak.
“Modern” beef-packing plants from Iowa and South Dakota to Rio do Sul in Brazil have been hard-hit with explosive outbreaks. By mid-May half of the coronavirus hotspots in the US were factories that process beef, chicken and pork.
Brazil, the biggest exporter of beef and chicken in the world, has been hard-hit by the virus, and is now second to the US in numbers with half a million infected. In a single state in Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, nearly two and a half thousand cases of Covid-19 can be traced to 24 slaughterhouses across the state.
Texas has seen its infection numbers jump, and not necessarily in big cities. Rural Moore County, population 20,000, has an infection rate ten times higher on account of the local meat-packing plant which processes five thousand cow carcasses a day.
The startling number of hot spots associated with meat-packing raises critical questions. Does the cool, refrigerated air play a role? Is ventilation the crux of the problem? It raises anew the anxious question of whether the greatest risk simply comes from human beings breathing in close proximity. While respiratory droplets have been identified as a vector that can be mitigated with spacing, the problem of aerosolized exposure is far harder to control.
In what seems like a nightmare scenario, combining the already-established dangers of confinement on a floating vessel, as exemplified by the Diamond Princess and dozens of other big ships, there is a newly emerging awareness that something about the processing of animal flesh poses serious problems, too.
The American Dynasty, a combination fishing boat and fish-processing plant limped into the port of Seattle due to a coronavirus outbreak on board in early June. 92 out of 126 workers tested positive for the virus. The US fishing industry which works the waters off Alaska has reported other outbreaks, so the scramble is on to contain the spread of onboard infection and to find protocols that allow for safe fishing and processing.
The outbreak in the US fishing industry perhaps contributed to early speculation that salmon might be a source of contamination. Too soon to say, but the salmon trade is another example of an industry being shaken to the bones by the Covid scare. There is even talk of cancelling the 2020 salmon fishing season off Alaska.
Markets that sell meat and fish, fresh, frozen and processed will be under pressure to ever more exacting sanitary standards. This is surely a good thing, but it takes time and money.
The US meat-packing industry is responding in a piecemeal fashion, issuing masks and temperature checks, but testing remains inadequate. The failure of the US to produce, distribute and administer tests in sufficient numbers still hampers the national response to Covid-19. In contrast China and South Korea have tested aggressively, and authorities in cooperation with the populace have mobilized the necessary resources to trace, identify and isolate in response to outbreak nodules.
It is hoped that the rapid and thorough response of Beijing authorities to the Fengtai outbreak, where widespread testing and tracing is now underway will present statistical clues not just as to what caused this particular “out-of-the-blue” outbreak but also help markets around the world understand the vectors and take necessary precautions.