COVID-19: profile of Brazilian workers of a mining company and the dynamic of community cases

Abstract

Objective: to describe the COVID-19 clinical outcomes profile from mining workers and the cases dynamic within the mining units and their respective municipalities. Methods: a cohort and ecological study using workers clinical-epidemiological, sociodemographic, and occupational secondary data of a multinational mining company, and of COVID-19 cases from five municipalities where the mining units were located, in Brazil, between March 2020 to April 2021. We calculated the cases cumulative incidence and the 7-day moving average (MA), and compared at the mining unit and respective municipality. Results: the study included 17,523 workers, 88.4% male, and 22.6% had at least one positive result for COVID-19. The workers most tested, with positive results, placed in quarantine, and with symptoms were female, middle-aged, living and working in Rio de Janeiro state, directly hired by the mining company, in shift-work, and in high-risk occupations. All mining units presented a cumulative incidence higher than their respective municipalities. Three municipalities showed peaks of COVID-19 with MA cases coinciding with an increase in cases among mining workers. Conclusion: approximately one-fifth of workers were diagnosed with COVID-19. The mining units had a similar temporal distribution of COVID-19 cases to the municipalities where they were located.