Disparity in Occupational Health Risk During the Pandemic

Abstract

Objective: This study clarifies potential misestimation of occupational risk caused by the dichotomy of frontline essential and nonessential occupations in prior studies. Methods: The linear regression is used to investigate the occupational risk in terms of incidence rate, hospitalization, and mortality on community level during the pandemic. Results: Overall, frontline essential occupations were positively associated with incidence rate, hospitalization, and mortality (156.06, 18.47, and 3.49; P < 0.01). Among essential occupations, however, education, training, and library occupations were negatively associated with them, whereas transportation, protective service, food preparation, and serving occupations were insignificantly associated with them. Moreover, among nonessential occupations, building and grounds cleaning, construction, and extraction occupations were positively associated with them. Conclusion: The dichotomy of frontline essential and nonessential occupations can bring overestimation and underestimation of occupational risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID‐19 mortality among Massachusetts workers and the association with telework ability, 2020

“…We used the Baker 39 assignment as a proxy for telework, but it is possible that workers in certain occupations assigned to one of the three “work outside the home” quadrants actually worked from home during the pandemic and that occupations assigned to the “work from home” reference group (Q1) worked outside the home. For instance, the relatively low rate in Q2 might in part reflect the fact that this quadrant included workers in many health care and education occupations who may have had the ability to work from home during 2020, and were therefore at lower risk of work‐related SARS‐CoV‐2 exposure 33,50,54,56 . In their study, Yuan et al 56 found that, overall, working in frontline essential occupations was positively associated with COVID‐19 incidence, hospitalization and mortality, but closer examination of occupation groups revealed a negative association among education, training and library occupations (essential), which in our analysis were largely included in Q2.…”

“…For instance, the relatively low rate in Q2 might in part reflect the fact that this quadrant included workers in many health care and education occupations who may have had the ability to work from home during 2020, and were therefore at lower risk of work‐related SARS‐CoV‐2 exposure 33,50,54,56 . In their study, Yuan et al 56 found that, overall, working in frontline essential occupations was positively associated with COVID‐19 incidence, hospitalization and mortality, but closer examination of occupation groups revealed a negative association among education, training and library occupations (essential), which in our analysis were largely included in Q2. The authors speculated that online teaching technology might have allowed for remote learning, thereby reducing the risk of occupational exposure for workers in education.…”