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Risk of Severe COVID-19 Among Workers and Household Members
Quick Takes
- Over 55 million US adults at increased risk of COVID-19 lived with or are essential workers who cannot work from home.
- Policymakers should consider the health risk of essential workers and those with whom they live when making decisions on vaccine distribution or reopening the economy.
Study Questions:
What is the estimated number of adults with risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who either are or live with essential workers?
Methods:
The authors used deidentified data from the 2014-2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, an in-person household survey of the US civilian noninstitutionalized population, which provides nationally representative data on health and employment for all household members. Essential workers were defined according to the federal guidelines, except the restaurant sector was entirely classified as nonessential given the inability in discerning essential versus nonessential jobs. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-defined COVID-19 risk factors include age ≥65 years, obesity, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney disease, cancer, heart disease, smoking, and hypertension.
Results:
Of 157 million workers, 112 million (71.5%) were classified as essential, and of those, only 31.2 million could work from home. Over half (54%) of essential workers had risk factors for COVID-19. Incorporating other household members, 74 million increased-risk adults either lived with or were themselves essential employees who could not work from home.
Conclusions:
Between 56.7 and 74.3 million increased-risk US adults lived with or were themselves essential workers who could not work from home.
Perspective:
A substantial number of workers are classified as essential based on the current federal definition, with over 50 million of them having risk factors for COVID-19. While this study is based on prepandemic data, the numbers are staggering. Policymakers should consider the health risk of essential workers and those with whom they live when making decisions on vaccine distribution or reopening the economy.
Clinical Topics: Cardiovascular Care Team, COVID-19 Hub, Geriatric Cardiology, Prevention, Hypertension, Smoking, Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Disease
Keywords: Allied Health Occupations, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Diabetes Mellitus, Employment, Geriatrics, Health Occupations, Hypertension, Neoplasms, Obesity, Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive, Primary Prevention, Risk Factors, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, Smoking, Vaccination
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