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. 2021 Apr:201:109800.
doi: 10.1016/j.econlet.2021.109800. Epub 2021 Feb 25.

Nursing facilities, food manufacturing plants and COVID-19 cases and deaths

Twisha Asher  1 , Partha Deb  2   3 , Anjelica Gangaram  4
Affiliations

Nursing facilities, food manufacturing plants and COVID-19 cases and deaths

Twisha Asher et al. Econ Lett. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

News outlets pointed to meatpacking plants and nursing homes as viral hotspots during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. In contrast to news reports, we find that retirement communities and assisted living facilities were associated with fewer cases and deaths and that skilled nursing facilities were associated with fewer cases. We find that meatpacking plants were associated with more cases and deaths as were bakeries. In contrast dairy plants were associated with fewer cases and deaths. Proactive implementation of policy measures in nursing homes and retirement facilities were beneficial. Analogous guidance was lacking for food manufacturing establishments, potentially exacerbating the spread of the virus.

Keywords: COVID-19; Essential businesses; Meatpacking plants; Nursing homes; Prevalence.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Geographic distributions of nursing and residential care facilities and food products manufacturing establishments (per 100,000 persons). Notes: Each boxplot depicts the distribution of the number of business establishments. The box denotes lower, middle and upper quartiles. The whiskers indicate variability outside the upper and lower quartiles through upper and lower adjacent values. Outliers vis-a-vis the adjacent values are plotted as individual points.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Associations between nursing and residential care facilities and food products manufacturing establishments and cases and deaths (each per 100,000 persons). Notes: Regressions of cases and deaths per 100,000 persons and socioeconomic characteristics, temperature, and numbers of business establishments were estimated using generalized linear models with log link and Poisson family. The error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Associations between demographic and geographic characteristics and cases and deaths (each per 100,000 persons). Notes: Regressions of cases and deaths per 100,000 persons and socioeconomic characteristics, temperature, and numbers of business establishments were estimated using generalized linear models with log link and Poisson family. The error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals.
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References

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