Disparities in COVID-19 fatalities among working Californians.
PLoS One
; 17(3): e0266058, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1765542
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Information on U.S. COVID-19 mortality rates by occupation is limited. We aimed to characterize 2020 COVID-19 fatalities among working Californians to inform preventive strategies.METHODS:
We identified laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 fatalities with dates of death in 2020 by matching death certificates to the state's COVID-19 case registry. Working status for decedents aged 18-64 years was determined from state employment records, death certificates, and case registry data and classified as "confirmed working," "likely working," or "not working." We calculated age-adjusted overall and occupation-specific COVID-19 mortality rates using 2019 American Community Survey denominators.RESULTS:
COVID-19 accounted for 8,050 (9.9%) of 81,468 fatalities among Californians 18-64 years old. Of these decedents, 2,486 (30.9%) were matched to state employment records and classified as "confirmed working." The remainder were classified as "likely working" (n = 4,121 [51.2%]) or "not working" (n = 1,443 [17.9%]) using death certificate and case registry data. Confirmed and likely working COVID-19 decedents were predominantly male (76.3%), Latino (68.7%), and foreign-born (59.6%), with high school or less education (67.9%); 7.8% were Black. The overall age-adjusted COVID-19 mortality rate was 30.0 per 100,000 workers (95% confidence interval [CI], 29.3-30.8). Workers in nine occupational groups had age-adjusted mortality rates higher than this overall rate, including those in farming (78.0; 95% CI, 68.7-88.2); material moving (77.8; 95% CI, 70.2-85.9); construction (62.4; 95% CI, 57.7-67.4); production (60.2; 95% CI, 55.7-65.0); and transportation (57.2; 95% CI, 52.2-62.5) occupations. While occupational differences in mortality were evident across demographic groups, mortality rates were three-fold higher for male compared with female workers and three- to seven-fold higher for Latino and Black workers compared with Asian and White workers.CONCLUSION:
Californians in manual labor and in-person service occupations experienced disproportionate COVID-19 mortality, with the highest rates observed among male, Latino, and Black workers; these occupational group should be prioritized for prevention.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
PLoS One
Journal subject:
Science
/
Medicine
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Journal.pone.0266058
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