Factory workers take the long shift to fight COVID-19

Workers at a processing plant cheered as they headed home for the first time in 28 days on Sunday. More than 40 employees volunteered to stay four weeks at the Braskem America plant in Marcus Hook, Pa., making polypropylene, a raw material used in producing N95 masks, sanitizers, and other protective gear. They worked 12-hour shifts, and the company provided beds, meals, and iPads, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia reported.

Why did they stay so long? Living at the plant protected the workers from the coronavirus while maintaining crucial supply lines, the company said. Workers at Braskem plants in Texas and West Virginia have done something similar. “There’s been a glow in everyone’s eyes,” Joe Boyce, the shift supervisor, told a reporter. “We’re truly honored to be able to give back and support people we will never meet in some way.”

Dig deeper: Read Charissa Koh’s report on how poverty-fighting groups are adapting to the pandemic.