Exploring U.S. Food System Workers' Intentions to Work While Ill during the Early COVID-19 Pandemic: A National Survey.

With "stay at home" orders in effect during early COVID-19, many United States (U.S.) food system workers attended in-person work to maintain national food supply chain operations. Anecdotally, many encountered barriers to staying home despite symptomatic COVID-19 illness. We conducted a national, cross-sectional, online survey between 31 July and 2 October 2020 among 2535 respondents. Using multivariable regression and free-text analyses, we investigated factors associated with workers' intentions to attend work while ill (i.e., presenteeism intentions) during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, 8.8% of respondents intended to attend work with COVID-19 disease symptoms. Almost half (41.1%) reported low or very low household food security. Workers reporting a higher workplace safety climate score were half as likely to report presenteeism intentions (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.37, 0.75) relative to those reporting lower scores. Workers reporting low (aOR 2.06, 95% CI 1.35, 3.13) or very low (aOR 2.31, 95% CI 1.50, 3.13) household food security levels had twice the odds of reporting presenteeism intentions relative to those reporting high/marginal food security. Workplace culture and safety climate could enable employees to feel like they can take leave when sick during a pandemic, which is critical to maintaining individual and workplace health. We stress the need for strategies which address vulnerabilities and empower food workers to make health-protective decisions.

Frequency of Workplace Controls and Associations With Safety Perceptions Among a National Sample of US Food Retail Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: Explore workplace control frequencies and factors associated with US food retail workers' safety perceptions during COVID-19. METHODS: An online, cross-sectional survey captured working conditions and safety perceptions among a large, national sample of US food retail workers from July to October 2020. RESULTS: Overall, 40.3% reported feeling "not so" or "not protected" by COVID-19 controls. Administrative controls were more commonly reported (56.8% reported ≥5 controls) than engineering (19.5% reported ≥3). Fomite-related controls were more common than those reducing interpersonal contact. After adjustment, organizational safety climate (prevalence ratio (PR): 1.53, 95% CI: 1.24, 1.89), and perceived strict prevention measure enforcement (PR: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.78) were associated with safety perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: Many workers do not feel well-protected by COVID-19 controls. Safety climate and control enforcement are associated with workers' COVID-19 safety perceptions.