Name: Los Angeles Apparel works to reopen after 150 workers test positive for coronavirus
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Los Angeles Apparel works to reopen after 150 workers test positive for coronavirus

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By | | Daily NewsA coronavirus outbreak at one of the largest garment factories in Los Angeles has led to 150 workers testing positive, has forced the Public Health Department to close the facility and has prompted a renewed look at workers who are shouldering a huge burden from the pandemic.Los Angeles Apparel’s three addresses at its site on 59th Street, south of Downtown L.A., were shuttered when workers there reported positive for the virus, .At 812 E. 59th St., there were 23 cases, at 911 E. 59th St. there were 61 cases, and at 1020 E. 59th St. there were 67 cases, according to the county.Show Caption ofDov Charney, founder and CEO, said the company was cooperating with county health officials, re-testing employees and is devising a strategy to reopen. County public health officials noted that inclusion on a list of inspected facilities in which the county took action “does not suggest neglect or wrongdoing on the part of the facility.”“We started testing very aggressively about two weeks ago,” said Charney, lamenting how hard he said it was to still get mass testing. “Had we not tested as aggressively, we would not have had that quantity of cases.”Charney said the company has established social distancing of its workers and requires masks. But he said it’s easier to implement social distancing in the work environment than it is to control what workers do during breaks, or at home.“At this point we’re working to re-test everyone again,” an effort that started over the weekend, he said.Charney contended that there was only so much he could control in a company that employs up to 2,000 people — many of whom come from immigrant communities hit hard by the virus. And, he said, in earlier days of the virus, public health officials signed off on social distancing practices at his factories, which for weeks have transformed from producing clothing to mostly making face masks and protective gowns.In recent weeks, the coronavirus landscape in L.A. has alarmingly changed, with new cases and hospitalizations soaring. The surge prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom — and, ultimately, L.A. County Public Health — to close down indoor business at places like restaurants and dial back on weeks-long effort to ease restrictions on the region’s economy.Public health officials point to spread fueled by eased stay-at-home restrictions allowing many going back to work, businesses failing to adhere to social distancing guidelines, people not wearing protective items such as masks and large gatherings that have filled local beaches on holidays and local streets during protests. They also point outbreaks at factories as a serious concern.At Los Angeles Apparel, the 150 positive cases were tested before June 23, Charney said, adding that subsequent testing turned up “a handful of cases” who have been quarantined. The company’s protocol is to quarantine workers who test positive and determine who they may have had contact with and inform them, he said.L.A. County’s Health Officer Order requires businesses with three or more known cases of COVID-19 within the workplace over the span of 14 days, to report the outbreak to the Department of Public Health. Employers who have one known case within the workplace must have a protocol that requires that person to self-isolate at home and anyone exposed to self-quarantine, according to the county.Charney noted later this week that his company’s shipping department is already looking to kick back into gear, a prelude to getting production going in the coming days for a manufacturing site that was essentially operating every day until after midnight.Charney said the company is arranging more testing next week.But the Los Angeles Apparel closure was a reminder of issues that have been simmering among some of the region’s most vulnerable populations, beneath the county’s daily death and case tolls.The closure came after weeks of concern among employees about hazardous conditions, and potential breakouts, at the factories, according to a nonprofit watchdog group.By mid-June, The Garment Worker Center, a nonprofit that advocates for garment worker rights, had received reports from workers at the center who had tested positive for the coronavirus at Los Angeles Apparel factories, according to center officials.The factories work on a 24-hour-7-day-a-week schedule, operating multiple shifts at three factories, each with more than 100 workers, the center said. Workers, according to the center, reported a lack of social distancing during multiple shifts throughout the pandemic — even as they worked to churn out masks and gloves for the safety of consumers.One employee became ill not long after beginning to work there in May, according to the center; he tested positive for the virus and was ultimately hospitalized for almost three weeks.“We’ve been concerned about LA Apparel because we’d been getting calls at least since May,” said Marissa Nuncio, director of The Garment Worker Center.The center got reports from concerned workers who abruptly stopped coming to work, with management allegedly not announcing whether the absent workers were because of the virus. They also alleged that in early June management had not made changes in sanitizing practices. The center has filed these allegations in a complaint with the county, she said.Charney said management leans on workers to self-report to their peers, and ultimately urges all workers in the sphere of someone who tests positive to get tested. But there are privacy issues that prevent management from making all-out announcements, he said.“How shameful would it be if we told their colleagues,” he said, adding that about a month ago the company closed a factory after a spike in positive cases.Charney said the company has always reported to the county when workers test positive, and actively quarantines them when they do.Responding to allegations of lagging sanitation practices, Charney said: “I don’t believe that to be accurate,” he said. “We’re cleaning everything we can.”Nuncio said the situation at Los Angeles Apparel, and its closure, shines a light on what the L.A.-area’s estimated 45,000 garment industry workers face.Many take public transit to work. And many already come from communities already hit hard by the virus. Indeed — of 3,130 people who died from complications of the virus whose ethnicities were known, 43% are Latino.Ultimately, with little savings and paid more by the volume of what they sew — they’re forced into a difficult and risky balancing act between making a living and maintaining their health, advocates say.“They’re constant production is how they make their living,” Nuncio said.In the midst of the virus, Nuncio said it’s not clear for many workers from the company how to apply for supplemental paid leave from the city of L.A.Charney said at his factory that information is given to employees in Spanish and English through an information packet, and pushed back on allegations in June that two employees who fell ill had not been contacted by the company. He said they were contacted, and that the company paid them leave for 180 hours.The outbreak at the factories drew the attention of L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis. She pledged on Tuesday to make sure Los Angeles Apparel reopens safely — a demand echoed by advocates to are calling for the industry at large to ensure paid sick and quarantine leave, regular cleaning at sites, regular testing and rigorous enforcement of social distancing.“The LA County Department of Public Health has ordered the mandatory closure of LA Apparel’s factories,” she said in a statement, “and I intend to ensure necessary protections are implemented before they reopen.” She said in the case of Los Angeles Apparel, she wanted to make sure high standards are in place before it reopens.Solis also challenged the larger industry overall and its reputation of troubling conditions. “Exploitation of garment workers is an issue that predates the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns of this mistreatment have exacerbated given the increased demand to produce cloth-face coverings,” Solis’ statement said.L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday noted that as health officials make some progress reducing overall infections at the region’s skilled nursing facilities, there’s emerging concern about manufacturing facilities, where workers traditionally work close together in enclosed environments.“We’re seeing outbreaks, and we’re very concerned about these, at several factories, in the central and south L.A. parts of our city,” he said.Garcetti said those workers are in a vulnerable spot, he said. Many are low-income. Many speak English as a second language. And still others may not have car or time to get to a coronavirus testing center.And many go home to families and communities that are struggling with the virus.He said mobile COVID-19 testing teams will begin targeting factories in an effort to contain the spread. And he noted that a cluster of companies have stepped up to provide face shields to factory workers. WET Design, a local water feature design firm, is donating 10,000 face shields for L.A. factory workers, Garcetti said, noting that Logistics Victory L.A., through a donation from Harbor Freight, had also come up with 9,000 such shields for workers.Ultimately, he said, “hard as we try,” physical distancing at some local factories is not happening.Charney — who also founded the now-online American Apparel Inc. (which fell into bankruptcy in 2015) — said his manufacturing company is learning, as a complex web of state, local and federal advisories communicate the rules for how he operates in the pandemic era.His American Apparel touts itself as “Ethically Made — Sweathshop Free.” And he noted on Tuesday that he pays his workers up to $35 per hour.“If there’s something I can do better, I’d love for them to come over and tell me,” he said. “Yes. I think that businesses can step up. I think people in their homes can step up. We can all step up to social distance.”But, he said, a city as wealthy as L.A should be able to test more widely and more quickly to contain the spread. He added that that his company has actively reported positive cases to the county, as required.On Tuesday, in the alley way outside of the factories’ brick exterior, movers were taking out and moving sewing machines and the area looked to be void of the workers who fill the cavernous interior cavernous spaces.“We are very passionate and connected to our workers,” he said. “We are here with them. Management is in the same building. Whatever risks are borne on the worker are also borne by management.”More information about protective gear, and how factory workers can get it, is at .Staff photographer Sarah Reingewirtz contributed to this story.We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. 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By | | Daily NewsA coronavirus outbreak at one of the largest garment factories in Los Angeles has led to 150 workers testing positive, has forced the Public Health Department to close the facility and has prompted a renewed look at workers who are shouldering a huge burden from the pandemic.Los Angeles Apparel’s three addresses at its site on 59th Street, south of Downtown L.A., were shuttered when workers there reported positive for the virus, .At 812 E. 59th St., there were 23 cases, at 911 E. 59th St. there were 61 cases, and at 1020 E. 59th St. there were 67 cases, according to the...

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Los Angeles Apparel works to reopen after 150 workers test positive for coronavirus

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