Table 2.
Workplace COVID-19 outbreaks, a by work setting category and specific work setting, 23 US jurisdictions, August–October 2021 b
| No. (%) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work setting (approximate NAICS code) c | No. of jurisdictions reporting | Workplace outbreaks (n = 12 470) d | Establishments e f (n = 5 660 735) | Outbreak-associated cases among workers (n = 49 938) | Employed population (n = 71 758 633)e,f |
| Any health care setting | 23 | 4474 (35.9) | 422 744 (7.5) | 18 046 (36.1) | 8 616 484 (12.0) |
| Hospital (622) | 17 | 404 (9.0) | 7442 (1.8) | 1625 (9.0) | 2 741 842 (31.8) |
| Nursing and residential health care facility (623) | 20 | 3655 (81.7) | 41 040 (9.7) | 15 603 (86.5) | 1 474 930 (17.1) |
| Pharmacy (446110) | 2 | 8 (0.2) | 32 358 (7.7) | 14 (0.1) | 346 436 (4.0) |
| Ambulatory health care (621) | 14 | 175 (3.9) | 341 904 (80.9) | 795 (4.4) | 4 053 276 (47.0) |
| Health care setting–type not specified | — | 232 (5.2) | — | — | — |
| Any educational setting | 23 | 4170 (33.4) | 149 682 (2.6) | 13 097 (26.2) | 6 805 267 (9.5) |
| Preschool or daycare (62441) | 20 | 905 (21.7) | 38 622 (25.8) | 2264 (17.3) | 412 461 (6.1) |
| K-12 school (61111) | 20 | 3051 (73.2) | 43 562 (29.1) | 9974 (76.2) | 4 105 781 (60.3) |
| Other schools and instructional settings (other 611) | 13 | 168 (4.0) | 67 498 (45.1) | 2763 (21.1) | 2 287 025 (33.6) |
| Educational setting–type not specified | — | 46 (1.1) | — | — | — |
| Other setting | 23 | 3826 (30.7) | 5 088 309 (89.9) | 18 795 (37.6) | 56 336 882 (78.5) |
| Correctional facility (92214) | 19 | 410 (10.7) | 2834 (0.1) | 4420 (23.5) | 248 867 (0.4) |
| Non–food manufacturing facility (other 31-33) | 16 | 419 (11.0) | 169 403 (3.3) | 2346 (12.5) | 4 948 068 (8.8) |
| Social service (624) | 13 | 258 (6.7) | 692 565 (13.6) | 981 (5.2) | 1 796 662 (3.2) |
| Retail trade (44-45, excluding 446110 and 445) | 10 | 256 (6.7) | 417 278 (8.2) | 1074 (5.7) | 5 268 617 (9.4) |
| Food and beverage store (445) | 15 | 226 (5.9) | 72 913 (1.4) | 861 (4.6) | 1 607 812 (2.9) |
| Accommodation and food services (72) | 7 | 192 (5.0) | 380 006 (7.5) | 592 (3.1) | 6 244 896 (11.1) |
| Other services (except public administration) (81 excluding 8122) | 9 | 127 (3.3) | 427 001 (8.4) | 539 (2.9) | 2 078 507 (3.7) |
| Food manufacturing facility (311) | 14 | 104 (2.7) | 18 121 (0.4) | 1098 (5.8) | 729 479 (1.3) |
| Construction (23) | 7 | 140 (3.7) | 413 839 (8.1) | 349 (1.9) | 3 897 096 (6.9) |
| Professional, scientific, technical, management, administrative, and waste management services (54, 55, 56) | 8 | 89 (2.3) | 1 067 264 (21.0) | 282 (1.5) | 11 427 517 (20.3) |
| Transportation and warehousing (48-49, excluding 485 and 491) | 5 | 81 (2.1) | 140 128 (2.8) | 394 (2.1) | 2 935 327 (5.2) |
| Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing (52, 53) | 7 | 83 (2.2) | 495 138 (9.7) | 211 (1.1) | 4 120 430 (7.3) |
| Arts, entertainment, and recreation (71) | 7 | 73 (1.9) | 88 658 (1.7) | 245 (1.3) | 1 109 333 (2.0) |
| Public administration (except first responders and correctional facilities) (92, excluding 922) | 13 | 112 (2.9) | 54 365 (1.1) | 669 (3.6) | 2 905 067 (5.2) |
| First response (92212, 92216, 92219) | 11 | 58 (1.5) | 6945 (0.1) | 252 (1.3) | 548 963 (1.0) |
| Utilities (22) | 7 | 58 (1.5) | 14 080 (0.3) | 198 (1.1) | 275 998 (0.5) |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing, or hunting (11) | 10 | 41 (1.1) | 52 785 (1.0) | 272 (1.4) | 690 889 (1.2) |
| Public transit (485) | 9 | 41 (1.1) | 10 364 (0.2) | 203 (1.1) | 217 677 (0.4) |
| Wholesale trade (42) | 4 | 32 (0.8) | 313 101 (6.2) | 148 (0.8) | 2 978 484 (5.3) |
| US Postal Service (491) | 5 | 24 (0.6) | 13 629 (0.3) | 109 (0.6) | 306 932 (0.5) |
| Information (51) | 4 | 17 (0.4) | 112 813 (2.2) | 37 (0.2) | 1 554 359 (2.8) |
| Death care (8122) | 5 | 12 (0.3) | 9167 (0.2) | 57 (0.3) | 69 235 (0.1) |
| Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (21) | 3 | 9 (0.2) | 16 865 (0.3) | 37 (0.2) | 291 930 (0.5) |
| Other or unknown | 20 | 396 (10.4) | 99 047 (2.0) | 1870 (9.9) | 84 738 (0.2) |
Abbreviations: —, does not apply; K-12, kindergarten through 12th grade; NAICS, North American Industry Classification System.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention invited the health departments from all 50 states, 8 US territories and freely associated states, and the District of Columbia to report aggregate surveillance data for COVID-19 outbreaks occurring in public or private work settings from August 1 through October 31, 2021. Some states passed the request on to health departments representing individual cities or counties.
Except where otherwise noted, “workplace outbreak” was defined for this study according to the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists’ surveillance definition for an outbreak in a nonresidential, non–health care workplace setting: “Two or more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases among workers at a facility with onset of illness within a 14-day period, who are epidemiologically linked, do not share a household, and are not listed as a close contact of each other outside of the workplace during standard case investigation or contact tracing.” 7
Data source: US Census Bureau. 6
During August–October 2021, there were 12 660 workplace COVID-19 outbreaks reported overall; however, setting was unknown or undocumented for 190 workplace outbreaks.
Based on the second quarter 2021 Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). The QCEW is a quarterly count of the number of business establishments and monthly employment and quarterly wages for workers covered by state unemployment insurance laws and federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees program compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Establishment counts are derived from administrative data from state and federal unemployment insurance programs. Employment and wage data are reported by employers. The QCEW covers >95% of all US jobs. 9
For major categories (ie, any health care setting, any educational setting, any other non–health care setting), column percentage denominators are based on the total number of establishments or employment across all work settings; for subcategories, column percentage denominators are based on the applicable major category.