Occupational Health Surveillance as a Tool for COVID-19 Prevention

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baker MG
• Description:
  The workplace is at the center of the COVID-19 pandemic. And although the virus certainly spreads outside the workplace as well, involuntary exposures at work result in its spread, and infection rates in many occupations exceed infection rates in the general population. In limited sample sizes, higher infection rates have been reported in grocery store workers, agricultural workers, construction workers, and health care workers relative to the general population. Recognizing the occupational spread of this disease, 17 states and Puerto Rico have established a presumption of exposure to COVID-19 for worker's compensation coverage for either all occupations (CA, WY) or particularly high-risk or essential occupations (Puerto Rico and the remaining 15 states). During the pandemic, we have called these workers "essential" and applauded them as heroes; yet their exposures, outbreaks, and excess deaths have continued, even as interventions to halt transmission have been implemented. One intervention strategy adopted piecemeal across the United States early in the pandemic was stay-at-home orders, whereby residents were asked to stay home except to perform essential tasks or go to their employment in essential businesses. To investigate the effectiveness of this type of order on changing behaviors, in this issue of AJPH Murray (p. 1149) reports on how Virginia's stay-at-home order affected resident mobility, measured using cell phone data. Murray found that after a declared state of emergency, Virginians decreased time spent at workplaces (-30%) and increased time spent at home (+12%). ... Working Americans spend about a third of their time at work-an average of 90 000 hours over a lifetime. As Murray showed, even during a pandemic when a stay-at-home order is in place, people must continue to work, primarily for economic reasons. As Murray concluded, for this reason, stay-at-home orders are not enough. To create evidence-based policies to protect workers, increased evidence is needed. A coordinated national occupational surveillance program is an achievable initiative that can be used to understand which occupations are facing the greatest risk of exposure, which workplaces are having outbreaks, and what the occupational characteristics are of exposed workers. This is one additional tool to be used to prevent COVID-19 transmission in the workplace and subsequent transmission in households and communities. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Public Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Public health; Surveillance; Occupational health; Policy; COVID-19; Occupational exposure; Disease transmission
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2021.306269
• ISSN:
  0090-0036
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; Puerto Rico ; Virginia ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  111
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20064971
• Citation:
  Am J Public Health 2021 Jun; 111(6):999-1001
• Contact Point Address:
  Marissa G. Baker, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98015
• Email:
  bakermg@uw.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Public Health
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7403b956f402f63205d5329df29eac3ec20d73a4e9789b7450c2e07d4f60999b65a6d91d7c5d1f6130ff2e999998ee24687815847cfcc7db9c5de8894c938240
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/248945/cdc_248945_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 574.59 KB ]