Two Mexican women filed a complaint against Louisiana-based Acadia Processors LLC for firing them for leaving company housing to receive hospital treatment after several colleagues began to show severe coronavirus systems, Reuters reported.

COVID-19 cases have been spreading in seafood processing plants as employees work long hours in close quarters.

Maribel Hernandez and Reyna Isabel Alvarez were told to stay in employee housing while sick without receiving compensation. They both tested positive for the coronavirus, as did other employees at the facility.

"I told [Hernandez], we're going to die and they aren't going to do anything," Alvarez said.

The two migrant workers were told they were fired for packing their bags before leaving for the hospital and immigrant authorities were informed, according to filings seen by Thomson Reuters Foundation.