TABLE. Demographic, clinical, household, community and occupational characteristics of 241 meat processing facility workers with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection — Nebraska, April–May 2020.
| Characteristic (no. with available information) | No. (%)* |
|---|---|
|
Sex (237)
| |
| Male |
136 (57) |
| Female |
101 (43) |
|
Age group, yrs (238)
| |
| Median age, yrs (range) |
41 (18–76) |
| 18–29 |
41 (17) |
| 30–39 |
70 (29) |
| 40–49 |
44 (18) |
| 50–59 |
55 (23) |
| ≥60 |
28 (12) |
|
Ethnicity (210)
| |
| Hispanic |
97 (46) |
| Non-Hispanic |
113 (54) |
|
Reported preferred language† (220)
| |
| Spanish |
75 (34) |
| English |
56 (25) |
| Somali |
54 (25) |
| Other |
35 (16) |
|
Underlying health conditions (238)
| |
| None |
195 (82) |
| Any§ |
43 (18) |
| Diabetes¶ |
21 (9) |
| Cardiovascular disease¶ |
15 (6) |
| Lung disease |
8 (3) |
|
Signs and symptoms associated with illness (241)
| |
| None |
78 (32) |
| Any |
163 (68) |
| Headache |
106 (44) |
| Fatigue |
85 (35) |
| Measured or subjective fever |
82 (34) |
| Myalgia |
82 (34) |
| Lost taste or smell |
77 (32) |
| Cough |
59 (24) |
| Sore throat |
57 (24) |
| Chills |
52 (22) |
| Median illness duration, days (range) |
11 (<1–31) |
|
Outcome (241)
| |
| Hospitalized |
2 (1) |
| Died |
0 (0) |
|
Smoking habits (236)
| |
| Never smoker |
177 (75) |
| Former smoker |
46 (19) |
| Current smoker |
13 (6) |
|
Occupational exposures
| |
| Close contact** with ill person at work (241), no. (% of total) |
70 (29) |
| Production areas, no. (% of 70) |
52 (74) |
| Cafeteria/Break areas, no. (% of 70) |
36 (51) |
| Locker room, no. (% of 70) |
30 (43) |
| Entry/Exit, no. (% of 70) |
28 (40) |
| Other, no. (% of 70) |
12 (17) |
|
Worked 2 wks before symptoms or test†† (237)
|
167 (68)
|
|
Occupational role§§ (167) | |
| Harvesting (stunning, slaughtering, eviscerating, halving)¶¶ |
27 (16) |
| Chilling |
12 (7) |
| Processing (cutting, preparing and packaging meat products)¶¶ |
91 (54) |
| Rendering (converting waste animal materials into usable products)¶¶ |
3 (2) |
| Material handling |
21 (13) |
| Administrative support/Other |
16 (10) |
|
Commute to work*** (167)
| |
| Carpool |
19 (11) |
| Private car |
147 (88) |
| Other |
5 (3) |
|
Wore a face covering or mask at work (157)
| |
| Always |
142 (90) |
| Sometimes |
8 (5) |
| Never |
7 (4) |
|
Aware of flexible leave policy (164)
| |
| Yes |
120 (73) |
| No |
18 (11) |
| Don’t know |
26 (16) |
|
Temperature checked at work entry (160)
| |
| Always |
139 (87) |
| Sometimes |
9 (6) |
| Never |
12 (8) |
|
Symptoms checked at work entry (162)
| |
| Always |
66 (41) |
| Sometimes |
17 (10) |
| Never |
79 (49) |
|
Household and community characteristics
| |
|
Household size, no. of persons including interviewed worker (228)
| |
| Median (range) |
3 (1–13) |
| 1 |
38 (17) |
| 2 |
63 (28) |
| 3 |
46 (20) |
| 4 |
36 (16) |
| 5 |
22 (10) |
| ≥6 |
23 (10) |
|
Home type (233)
| |
| Single-family home |
124 (53) |
| Apartment |
99 (42) |
| Mobile home or other |
10 (4) |
|
Household member works outside home (234)
| |
| No one else worked outside home |
119 (51) |
| Household member works outside home††† |
115 (49) |
| Same facility, no. (% of 115) |
83 (72) |
| Other food or manufacturing facility, no. (% of 115) |
11 (10) |
| Health care, long-term care facility, school, or child care, no. (% of 115) |
9 (8) |
| Other, no. (% of 115) |
18 (16) |
|
Household member ill or has positive test result for SARS-CoV-2 (236)
| |
| Household member ill or has positive test result for SARS-CoV-2 before or after worker |
63 (27) |
|
Community exposures
| |
| Close contact†† with ill person outside work, including ill household members (235) |
30 (13) |
| Not sure about close contact with ill person outside work (235) |
22 (9) |
| Used public or shared transportation (236) |
12 (5) |
| Household member at school or child care facility (238) |
3 (1) |
| Attended social gathering of >10 persons (234) | 3 (1) |
* Because of missing data, categories might not sum to total.
† Information on preferred language was included instead of race because more complete and detailed information was available for this diverse population. Other languages include Burmese, Cambodian, French, Karen, Lao, Malay, Oromo, Romanian, Tigrinya, and Vietnamese.
§ Other underlying conditions that were asked about and reported infrequently include: renal conditions, liver conditions, autoimmune disorders, neurologic disorders and other chronic conditions.
¶ Six workers reported underlying cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
** Close contact was defined as being within 6 ft (2 m) of an ill person for ≥10 minutes in the 2 weeks preceding symptom onset or testing.
†† No information is available on why the workers who did not go to work in the 14-day period were absent.
§§ Six workers had multiple occupational roles.
¶¶ Those working on the belt in harvesting, processing, and rendering were considered to work in proximity (<4 ft [<1.5 m]) to one another.
*** Four workers used multiple modes of transportation to get to work.
††† Six workers had two household members who worked outside the home in different industries. It is possible that multiple household members who worked in the same plant are included in this study.