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
. 2023 Mar-Apr;138(2):333-340.
doi: 10.1177/00333549221138294. Epub 2022 Dec 8.

COVID-19 Outbreaks Linked to Workplaces, 23 US Jurisdictions, August-October 2021

Sara E Luckhaupt  1 , Libby Horter  1   2 , Matthew R Groenewold  1 , Marie A de Perio  1 , Cheryl L Robbins  1 , Marie Haring Sweeney  1 , Isabel Thomas  1   3 , Diana Valencia  1 , Amanda Ingram  4 , Amy Heinzerling  5 , Alyssa Nguyen  5 , Emily B Townsend  6 , Rachel C Weber  6 , Diana Reichbind  7 , Hope Dishman  8 , Janna L Kerins  9 , Frances R Lendacki  9 , Connie Austin  10 , Liana Dixon  11 , Brooke Spillman  11 , Sean Simonson  12 , Julius Tonzel  12 , Anna Krueger  13 , Monique Duwell  14 , Brian Bachaus  14 , Britney Rust  15 , Colleen Barrett  16 , Brooke Morrison  17 , Katharine A Owers Bonner  18 , Nicole D Karlsson  18 , Kim Angelon-Gaetz  19 , Elizabeth S McClure  19 , Kelly E Kline  20 , Dhara Dangar  20 , Chasey Reed  21 , Jacqueline Karpowicz  21 , Shoana M Anderson  22 , Sophia Cantor  23 , Ifrah Chaudhary  23 , Esther M Ellis  24 , Marissa L Taylor  25 , Allison Sedon  26 , Anna Kocharian  27 , Collin Morris  27 , Marsha E Samson  28 , Anil T Mangla  28
Affiliations

COVID-19 Outbreaks Linked to Workplaces, 23 US Jurisdictions, August-October 2021

Sara E Luckhaupt et al. Public Health Rep. 2023 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Objectives: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, several outbreaks were linked with facilities employing essential workers, such as long-term care facilities and meat and poultry processing facilities. However, timely national data on which workplace settings were experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks were unavailable through routine surveillance systems. We estimated the number of US workplace outbreaks of COVID-19 and identified the types of workplace settings in which they occurred during August-October 2021.

Methods: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected data from health departments on workplace COVID-19 outbreaks from August through October 2021: the number of workplace outbreaks, by workplace setting, and the total number of cases among workers linked to these outbreaks. Health departments also reported the number of workplaces they assisted for outbreak response, COVID-19 testing, vaccine distribution, or consultation on mitigation strategies.

Results: Twenty-three health departments reported a total of 12 660 workplace COVID-19 outbreaks. Among the 12 470 workplace types that were documented, 35.9% (n = 4474) of outbreaks occurred in health care settings, 33.4% (n = 4170) in educational settings, and 30.7% (n = 3826) in other work settings, including non-food manufacturing, correctional facilities, social services, retail trade, and food and beverage stores. Eleven health departments that reported 3859 workplace outbreaks provided information about workplace assistance: 3090 (80.1%) instances of assistance involved consultation on COVID-19 mitigation strategies, 1912 (49.5%) involved outbreak response, 436 (11.3%) involved COVID-19 testing, and 185 (4.8%) involved COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Conclusions: These findings underscore the continued impact of COVID-19 among workers, the potential for work-related transmission, and the need to apply layered prevention strategies recommended by public health officials.

Keywords: COVID-19; disease outbreaks; workplace.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Workplace outbreaks reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 23 US jurisdictions, August–October 2021. Data for Nevada were reported by these jurisdictions only: Churchill County, Carson City, Douglas County, Lyon County, and Storey County.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. McMichael TM, Clark S, Pogosjans S, et al.. COVID-19 in a long-term care facility—King County, Washington, February 27–March 9, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020;69(12):339-342. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6912e1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Waltenburg MA, Rose CE, Victoroff T, et al.. Coronavirus disease among workers in food processing, food manufacturing, and agriculture workplaces. Emerg Infect Dis. 2021;27(1):243-249. doi:10.3201/eid2701.203821 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lewis NM, Salmanson AP, Price A, et al.. Community-associated outbreak of COVID-19 in a correctional facility—Utah, September 2020–January 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021;70(13):467-472. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7013a2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dooling K, McClung N, Chamberland M, et al.. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ interim recommendation for allocating initial supplies of COVID-19 vaccine—United States, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020;69(49):1857-1859. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6949e1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. SARS-CoV-2 variant classifications and definitions. Updated April 26, 2022. Accessed September 15, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant-classificatio...

Substances