A new study from a Sonoran university shows some of the risks faced by farm workers in northwestern Mexico during the pandemic.

For the study, more than 30 farm workers in Sonora and Baja California were interviewed from mid- to late-2020.

“In the fields, there were protocols,” said Jose Eduardo Calvario, a researcher with the Colegio de Sonora in Hermosillo, who carried out the study with several colleagues.

But — with a fourth wave looming in Sonora — he said that additional measures could improve the situation. Among them would be agricultural companies providing masks to all workers, health information being translated into the indigenous languages commonly spoken by such workers, and addressing crowding in work transports. More also needs to be done to detect possible cases, he says.