Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
COVID-19 infection across workplace settings in Qatar: a comparison of COVID-19 positivity rates of screened workers from March 1st until July 31st, 2020. |
| Authors: |
Al-Kuwari, Mohamed Ghaith1 (AUTHOR), Al-Nuaimi, Asma Ali1 (AUTHOR), Abdulmajeed, Jazeel1 (AUTHOR), Semaan, Sandy1 (AUTHOR) ssemaan@phcc.qa, Al-Romaihi, Hamad Eid2 (AUTHOR), Kandy, Mujeeb Chettiyam1 (AUTHOR), Swamy, Selvakumar1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: |
Journal of Occupational Medicine & Toxicology. 6/17/2021, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p1-9. 9p. |
| Subject Terms: |
*WORK environment, *SALES personnel, *HEALTH care industry, *COVID-19, *EDUCATION, *CROSS-sectional method, *OCCUPATIONAL exposure, *PRIVATE sector, *ECOLOGY, *BLUE collar workers, *MEDICAL screening, *CONSTRUCTION industry, *SEX distribution, *EMPLOYEES, *PUBLIC sector, *PSYCHOSOCIAL factors |
| Geographic Terms: |
QATAR |
| Abstract: |
Introduction: COVID-19 transmission was significant amongst Qatar's working population during the March–July 2020 outbreak. The study aimed to estimate the risk of exposure for COVID-19 across various workplace settings and demographics in the State of Qatar. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted utilizing surveillance data of all workplaces with 10 or more laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19. These workplaces were categorized using a mapping table adapted from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, 2017 version. The data was then analyzed to estimate and compare the positivity rate as an indicator of the risk of developing COVID-19 infection across various workplace settings in the State of Qatar. Results: The highest positivity rate was reported amongst the Construction & Related (40.0%) and the Retail & Wholesale Trade sectors (40.0%), whereas, the lowest positivity rate was attributed to the healthcare workplace setting (11.0%). The highest incidence of COVID-19 infections occurred in South Asian nationalities and in the male gender. The private funded sector employees have seen higher positivity rate than employees of the governmental funded sector. Conclusion: The elevated risk of infection in Construction and Retail & Wholesale Trade is probably due to environmental and educational vulnerabilities. The predominant labor force of those workplace categories is South Asian craft and male manual workers. Alternatively, the better containment of the healthcare workplace setting can be attributed to the enforcement of infection control and occupational safety measures. These findings imply the importance of using preventive and surveillance strategies for high-risk workplace settings appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
|
Copyright of Journal of Occupational Medicine & Toxicology is the property of BioMed Central and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
| Database: |
Academic Search Complete |
