Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 1;63(3):199-220.
doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002118.

A Physician's Guide for Workers' Return to Work During COVID-19 Pandemic

Marcos C Baptista  1 , Wayne N Burton, Brent Pawlecki, Glenn Pransky
Affiliations

A Physician's Guide for Workers' Return to Work During COVID-19 Pandemic

Marcos C Baptista et al. J Occup Environ Med. .

Abstract

Objective: Higher probability of developing severe COVID-19 has been associated with health risk factors and medical conditions which are common among workers globally. For at risk workers, return to work may require additional protective policies and procedures.

Methods: A review of the medical literature was conducted on health risk factors and medical conditions associated with increased COVID-19 morbidity and mortality, standardized measures for community COVID transmission, and occupation-specific risk.

Results: The relative risk of acquiring and the severity of COVID-19 for workers is associated with three pillars: individual risk, workplace risk, and community risk. Matrices were developed to determine a worker's individual risk based on these three pillars.

Conclusions: A practical decision tool is proposed for physicians evaluating and managing individual worker COVID-19 risk in the context of returning to work.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Baptista, Burton, Pawlecki, and Pransky have no relationships/conditions/circumstances that present potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Proposed worker guidelines based on community, job, and individual risk for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Steps in the use of the proposed risk matrix.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cucinotta D, Vanelli M. WHO Declares COVID-19 a pandemic. Acta Biomed 2020; 91:157–160. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Feng W, Zong W, Wang F, et al. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2): a review. Mol Cancer 2020; 19:100. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Polidoro RB, Hagan RS, de Santis Santiago R, Schmidt NW. Overview: systemic inflammatory response derived from lung injury caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection explains severe outcomes in COVID-19. Front Immunol 2020; 11:1626. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chakraborty S, Basu A. The COVID-19 pandemic: catching up with the cataclysm. F1000Res 2020; 9:F1000 Faculty Rev-638.
    1. Yuki K, Fujiogi M, Koutsogiannaki S. COVID-19 pathophysiology: a review. Clin Immunol 2020; 215:108427. - PMC - PubMed