ABSTRACT
The global political economy is generating new forms and growing shares of informal, insecure, and precarious labor, adding to histories of insecure work and an externalization of social costs. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the consequences of ignoring such signals in terms of the increased risk and vulnerability of insecure labor. This paper explores how such trends are generating intersecting adverse health outcomes for workers, communities, and environments and the implications for breaking siloes and building links between the paradigms, science, practice, and tools for occupational health, public health, and eco-health. Applying the principle of controlling hazards at the source is argued in this context to call for an understanding of the upstream production and socio-political factors that are jointly affecting the nature of work and employment and their impact on the health of workers, the public, and the planet.
Subject(s)
Employment , Occupational Health/trends , Adolescent , Africa, Eastern , Africa, Southern , COVID-19/epidemiology , Employment/psychology , Employment/standards , Employment/statistics & numerical data , Female , Humans , Male , Politics , Public Health , Unemployment/psychology , Unemployment/statistics & numerical data , Workplace/psychology , Workplace/standards , Young AdultABSTRACT
The 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19), also known as SARS-CoV-2, is highly pathogenic and virulent, and it spreads very quickly through human-to-human contact. In response to the growing number of cases, governments across the spectrum of affected countries have adopted different strategies in implementing control measures, in a hope to reduce the number of new cases. However, 5 months after the first confirmed case, countries like the United States of America (US) seems to be heading towards a trajectory that indicates a health care crisis. This is in stark contrast to the downward trajectory in Europe, China, and elsewhere in Asia, where the number of new cases has seen a decline ahead of an anticipated second wave. A data-driven approach reveals three key strategies in tackling COVID-19. Our work here has definitively evaluated these strategies and serves as a warning to the US, and more importantly, a guide for tackling future pandemics. Also see the video abstract here https://youtu.be/gPkCi2_7tWo.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/epidemiology , Infection Control/organization & administration , Infection Control/trends , Pandemics , Asia/epidemiology , COVID-19/diagnosis , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19 Testing/methods , COVID-19 Testing/standards , COVID-19 Testing/trends , Demography/trends , Economic Recession , Employment/organization & administration , Employment/standards , Employment/trends , Europe/epidemiology , History, 21st Century , Humans , Infection Control/methods , Infection Control/standards , Public Health Administration/methods , Public Health Administration/standards , Public Health Administration/trends , SARS-CoV-2/physiology , Travel-Related Illness , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
An examination of the trajectory of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and its subsequent economic impacts has revealed that this crisis will impact low-wage workers more severely than all others. The present commentary highlights the unique factors associated with low-wage work that make these workers particularly vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic, identifies potential adverse effects on the mental health of this population, and provides recommendations to maintain the safety, wellbeing, and dignity of low-wage workers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).