COVID-19 Outbreak Among Employees at a Meat Processing Facility — South Dakota, March–April 2020

Steinberg, Jonathan; Kennedy, Erin D.; Basler, Colin; Grant, Michael P.; Jacobs, Jesica R.; Ortbahn, Dustin; Osburn, John; Saydah, Sharon; Tomasi, Suzanne; Clayton, Joshua

doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6931a2

Cited by 73 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Several highly cited reports, both in the U.S. and Europe, focus on food workers with special emphasis on those in the meat packing industry [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. These essential workers tend to work on long production lines and in close proximity to their coworkers, live in crowded conditions, and share transportation to work, thereby increasing their risk of acquiring an infection [ 27 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and Essential Workers: A Narrative Review of Health Outcomes and Moral Injury

Gaitens

Condon

Fernandes

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a number of added obstacles to safe employment for already-challenged essential workers. Essential workers not employed in the health sector generally include racially diverse, low-wage workers whose jobs require close interaction with the public and/or close proximity to their coworkers, placing them at increased risk of infection. A narrative review facilitated the analyses of health outcome data in these workers and contributing factors to illness related to limited workplace protections and a lack of organizational support. Findings suggest that this already marginalized population may also be at increased risk of “moral injury” due to specific work-related factors, such as limited personal protective equipment (PPE) and the failure of the employer, as the safety and health “duty holder,” to protect workers. Evidence suggests that ethical and, in some cases, legally required safety protections benefit not only the individual worker, but an employer’s enterprise and the larger community which can retain access to resilient, essential services.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and Essential Workers: A Narrative Review of Health Outcomes and Moral Injury

Gaitens

Condon

Fernandes

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Workers in food production and other industries deemed essential to continuity of public health and safety have continued in-person work ( 2 ). While COVID-19 outbreaks have been reported among various essential workforce groups, including employees in food processing facilities ( 3, 4 ), to date no studies have prospectively assessed risk of infection among essential workers involved in food production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and clinical profile of SARS-CoV-2 infection among farmworkers in Monterey County, California: June-November, 2020

Lewnard

Mora

Nkwocha

et al. 2021

Preprint

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As essential personnel, United States farmworkers have continued working in-person throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We undertook prospective surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 infection and antibody prevalence among farmworkers in California’s Salinas Valley from 15 June to 30 November, 2020. Over this period, we observed 22.1% (1514/6864) positivity for current SARS-CoV-2 by nucleic acid detection among farmworkers tested at federally-qualified migrant and community health clinics, as compared to 17.2% (1255/7305) among other adults from the same communities (risk ratio, 1.29; 95% confidence interval, 1.20-1.37). In a nested study enrolling 1,115 farmworkers, prevalence of current infection was 27.7% among farmworkers reporting ≥1 potential COVID-19 symptom, and 7.2% among farmworkers without symptoms (adjusted odds ratio 4.17; 2.86-6.09). Prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies increased from 10.5% (6.0-18.4%) between 16 July-31 August to 21.2% (16.6-27.4%) between 1-30 November. The high observed prevalence of infection among farmworkers underscores the need for vaccination and other preventive interventions.

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“…Specific subgroups such as health care professionals or nursing home employees and residents have already been identified as groups at higher risk of exposure than the general population (5)(6)(7)(8). It is likely that other populations have suffered higher exposure risks to COVID-19 because of their working (9,10) or living conditions (i.e. : shared housing).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among people living in precarious situations in Ile de France

Roederer

Mollo²,

Vincent³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background A nationwide lockdown was implemented in France on 17 March 2020 to control the COVID-19 pandemic. People living in precarious conditions were relocated by the authorities to emergency shelters, hotels and large venues. Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) then intervened to provide medical care in several of these locations in Paris and in Seine-Saint-Denis, one of its suburbs, between March and June 2020. A seroprevalence survey was conducted to assess the level of exposure to COVID-19 among the population living in the sites. To our knowledge, this is the first assessment of the impact of the pandemic on populations living in insecure conditions in Europe. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional seroprevalence study in the food distribution sites, emergency shelters and workers residences supported by MSF in Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis, to determine the extent of COVID-19 exposure as determined by SARS-CoV2 antibody seropositivity. The detection of SARS-COV2 antibodies in serum was performed at the Institut Pasteur of Paris using two LuLISA (Luciferase-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) assays and a Pseudo Neutralization Test. A questionnaire covering sociodemographic characteristics, living conditions, adherence to sanitary recommendations and symptom manifestations was also completed. We describe here the seroprevalence site by site and identify the risk factors for seropositivity using a multivariable logistic regression model with site random effects. We also investigated associations between seropositivity and symptoms eventually reported. Findings Overall, 426/818 individuals tested positive in the 14 sites investigated. Seroprevalence varied significantly with the type of site (chi2 p<0.001). It was highest at 88.7% (95%CI 81.8-93.2) among individuals living in workers residences, followed by 50.5% (95%CI 46.3-54.7) in emergency shelters and 27.8 % (95%CI 20.8-35.7) among individuals recruited from the food distribution sites. Seroprevalence also varied significantly between sites of the same type. Among other risk factors, the odds for seropositivity were higher among individuals living in crowded sites (medium: adj. OR 2.7, 95%CI 1.5-5.1, p=0.001; high: adj. OR 3.4, 95%CI 1.7-6.9, p<0.001) compared with individuals from low crowding sites and among those who reported transit accommodation in a gymnasium before the lockdown (adj. OR 3.1, 95%CI 1.2-8.1, p=0.023). More than two-thirds of the seropositive individuals (68.3%; 95%CI 64.2-72.2) did not report any symptoms during the recall period. Interpretation The results demonstrate rather high exposure to SARS-COV-2 with important variations between study sites. Living in crowded conditions was identified as the most important explanatory factor for differences in levels of exposure. This study describes the key factors which determine the risk of exposure and illustrates the importance of identifying populations at high risk of exposure in order to orient and adapt prevention and control strategies to their specific needs.

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COVID-19 Outbreak Among Employees at a Meat Processing Facility — South Dakota, March–April 2020

Cited by 73 publications

References 4 publications

COVID-19 and Essential Workers: A Narrative Review of Health Outcomes and Moral Injury

COVID-19 and Essential Workers: A Narrative Review of Health Outcomes and Moral Injury

Prevalence and clinical profile of SARS-CoV-2 infection among farmworkers in Monterey County, California: June-November, 2020

High seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among people living in precarious situations in Ile de France

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