COVID-19 Surveillance and Investigations in Workplaces — Seattle &amp; King County, Washington, June 15–November 15, 2020

Bonwitt, Jesse; Deya, Ruth W.; Currie, Dustin W.; Lipton, Beth A.; Huntington-Frazier, Melinda; Sanford, S.; Pallickaparambil, Aley Joseph; Hood, Julia; Rao, Agam K.; Kelly‐Reif, Kaitlin; Luckhaupt, Sara E.; Pogosjans, Sargis; Lindquist, Scott; Duchin, Jeff; Kawakami, Vance; Birdie, Rosheen; Bliesner, Siri; Bro, Erika; Bui, Tan Trung; DaCruz, Joan; Elcock, Maryellen; Lambert, Joanie; Leung, Ming; Marfa, Angelo; McMichael, Temet M.; Mummert, Laura A.; Pomerantz, Aaron; Sifrit, Nicola; Sutton, Renee; Thomforde, Christine; VonJoe, Christian; Look, Jennifer; Whitney, Holly

doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7025a3

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The largest numbers of healthcare claims were from Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners and Nursing, Psychiatric, and Home Health Aide Workers (Table 5). By contrast, other essential, critical, or frontline industry sectors such as Retail Trade, Wholesale Trade, Accommodation and Food Services, and Manufacturing had very low claim counts and claim rates (Table 2), despite the fact that several outbreak analyses 32–36 have shown that these are among the major industry sectors affected by COVID‐19. These four industries combined represented 6.6% of COVID‐19 claims ( n = 259; Table 2).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lost time: COVID‐19 indemnity claim reporting and results in the Wisconsin workers' compensation system from March 12 to December 31, 2020

Modji

Morris

Creswell

et al. 2022

American J Industrial Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic introduced a new compensable infectious disease to workplaces. Methods: This was a descriptive analysis of Wisconsin COVID workers' compensation (WC) claims between March 12 and December 31, 2020. The impact of the presumption law (March 12 to June 10, 2020) was also evaluated. Results: Less than 1% of working-age residents with COVID-19 filed a claim. COVID-19 WC claim rates (per 100,000 FTE) were notably low for frontline industry sectors such as Retail Trade (n = 115), Manufacturing (n = 88), and Wholesale Trade (n = 31). Healthcare workers (764 claims per 100,000 FTE) comprised 73.2% of COVID-19 claims. Most claims (52.8%) were denied and the proportion of denied claims increased significantly after the presumption period for both first responders and other occupations. Conclusion:The presumption law made benefits accessible primarily to first responders. Further changes to WC systems are needed to offset the individual and collective costs of infectious diseases.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lost time: COVID‐19 indemnity claim reporting and results in the Wisconsin workers' compensation system from March 12 to December 31, 2020

Modji

Morris

Creswell

et al. 2022

American J Industrial Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Health departments also developed various strategies for prioritizing workplace outbreak investigations. 18 We applied the CSTE case definition of an outbreak in a nonresidential, non–health care workplace setting to all workplaces, including health care and educational settings. Using this definition, jurisdictions identified the highest number of workplace outbreaks during the study period in health care settings, followed by educational settings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Outbreaks Linked to Workplaces, 23 US Jurisdictions, August–October 2021

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, several outbreaks were linked with facilities employing essential workers, such as long-term care facilities and meat and poultry processing facilities. However, timely national data on which workplace settings were experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks were unavailable through routine surveillance systems. We estimated the number of US workplace outbreaks of COVID-19 and identified the types of workplace settings in which they occurred during August–October 2021. Methods: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected data from health departments on workplace COVID-19 outbreaks from August through October 2021: the number of workplace outbreaks, by workplace setting, and the total number of cases among workers linked to these outbreaks. Health departments also reported the number of workplaces they assisted for outbreak response, COVID-19 testing, vaccine distribution, or consultation on mitigation strategies. Results: Twenty-three health departments reported a total of 12 660 workplace COVID-19 outbreaks. Among the 12 470 workplace types that were documented, 35.9% (n = 4474) of outbreaks occurred in health care settings, 33.4% (n = 4170) in educational settings, and 30.7% (n = 3826) in other work settings, including non–food manufacturing, correctional facilities, social services, retail trade, and food and beverage stores. Eleven health departments that reported 3859 workplace outbreaks provided information about workplace assistance: 3090 (80.1%) instances of assistance involved consultation on COVID-19 mitigation strategies, 1912 (49.5%) involved outbreak response, 436 (11.3%) involved COVID-19 testing, and 185 (4.8%) involved COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Conclusions: These findings underscore the continued impact of COVID-19 among workers, the potential for work-related transmission, and the need to apply layered prevention strategies recommended by public health officials.

show abstract

“…Many jurisdictions have flexibility in operationalizing all but the most basic surveillance recommendations from the CDC and could act to implement the recommendations discussed above for collecting additional information about work and employment. Since the beginning of the pandemic, some states and jurisdictions have reported incidence of COVID-19 by occupation and industry [13,[32][33][34][35]. In an effort to better understand when and how states collect work and employment data on COVID-19 cases, the Occupational Health Subcommittee (OHS) of the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) developed and conducted a national survey in February/March of 2021.…”

Section: Results From a National Survey On Collection Of Covid-19 Cas...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Work: A Social Determinant of Health Worth Capturing

Armenti

Sweeney

Lingwall

et al. 2023

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Work is a recognized social determinant of health. This became most apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers, particularly those in certain industries and occupations, were at risk due to interaction with the public and close proximity to co-workers. The purpose of this study was to assess how states collected work and employment data on COVID-19 cases, characterizing the need for systematic collection of case-based specific work and employment data, including industry and occupation, of COVID-19 cases. A survey was distributed among state occupational health contacts and epidemiologists in all 50 states to assess current practices in state public health surveillance systems. Twenty-seven states collected some kind of work and employment information from COVID-19 cases. Most states (93%) collected industry and/or occupation information. More than half used text-only fields, a predefined reference or dropdown list, or both. Use of work and employment data included identifying high risk populations, prioritizing vaccination efforts, and assisting with reopening plans. Reported barriers to collecting industry and occupation data were lack of staffing, technology issues, and funding. Scientific understanding of work-related COVID-19 risk requires the systematic, case-based collection of specific work and employment data, including industry and occupation. While this alone does not necessarily indicate a clear workplace exposure, collection of these data elements can help to determine and further prevent workplace outbreaks, thereby ensuring the viability of the nation’s critical infrastructure.

show abstract

COVID-19 Surveillance and Investigations in Workplaces — Seattle & King County, Washington, June 15–November 15, 2020

Cited by 14 publications

References 5 publications

Lost time: COVID‐19 indemnity claim reporting and results in the Wisconsin workers' compensation system from March 12 to December 31, 2020

Lost time: COVID‐19 indemnity claim reporting and results in the Wisconsin workers' compensation system from March 12 to December 31, 2020

COVID-19 Outbreaks Linked to Workplaces, 23 US Jurisdictions, August–October 2021

Work: A Social Determinant of Health Worth Capturing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About