My  @alleghenycol student  @tayhoose just defended her senior thesis project which was an online survey on the occupational health and safety of women farmers in the United States.

Her project was so clear and great that I was able to ask her tough questions to make connections between farm occupational health & safety and the #Covid19 pandemic.

One of the main connections is that women's online social networks are a major way for obtaining info and help for work on the farm (increase in online life might help facilitate this).

...But another connection is that women farmers find working alone to be an increased risk to their health and safety (social distancing might worsen this).

Another connection is that most farmers are owner-operators and must figure out for themselves how to work safely in a pandemic context, without much direct help from a corporation or an HR department or OSHA.

Another connection is that over-burdened hospitals might be less nimble for dealing with farm injuries and accidents, and that old injuries requiring surgery would have been delayed, lengthening the time to recovery for many farmers or others injured on the job.

Farming is a risky occupation, especially during the pandemic and especially for women who are more likely to have ill-fitting equipment and PPE.

Like many others, I hope this devastating pandemic will also provide an opportunity to address and reduce health disparities everywhere - properly fitting PPE, paid sick leave, public health prevention, and universal healthcare for all!

Many thanks to the wonderful @mustbesarah for helping distribute the survey.