Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America.
Microsoft Azure Global, Redmond, WA, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Apr 28;16(4):e0250621. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250621. eCollection 2021.
Farmers and farm workers are critical to the secure supply of food, yet this population is potentially at high risk to acquire COVID-19. This study estimates the prevalence of COVID-19 among farmers and farmworkers in the United States by coupling county-level data on the number of farm workers relative to the general population with data on confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths. In the 13 month period since the start of the pandemic (from March 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021), the estimated cumulative number of COVID-19 cases (deaths) was 329,031 (6,166) among agricultural producers, 170,137 (2,969) among hired agricultural workers, 202,902 (3,812) among unpaid agricultural workers, and 27,223 (459) among migrant agricultural workers. The cases amount to 9.55%, 9.31%, 9.39%, and 9.01% of all U.S. agricultural producers, hired workers, unpaid workers, and migrant workers, respectively. The COVID-19 incidence rate is significantly higher in counties with more agricultural workers; a 1% increase in the number of hired agricultural workers in a county is associated with a 0.04% increase in the number of COVID-19 cases per person and 0.07% increase in deaths per person. Although estimated new cases among farm workers exhibit similar trends to that of the general population, the correlation between the two is sometimes negative, highlighting the need to monitor this particular population that tends to live in more rural areas. Reduction in labor availability from COVID-19 is estimated to reduce U.S. agricultural output by about $309 million.
农民和农场工人对于保障粮食安全至关重要，但这一人群感染新冠病毒的风险可能很高。本研究通过将县一级的农业工人数量与一般人群的数量进行对比，结合新冠确诊病例和死亡数据，来估计美国农民和农场工人的新冠感染率。自疫情开始以来的 13 个月（2020 年 3 月 1 日至 2021 年 3 月 31 日），农业生产者累计报告新冠确诊病例（死亡）329031 例（6166 例），受雇农业工人 170137 例（2969 例），无报酬农业工人 202902 例（3812 例），移民农业工人 27223 例（459 例）。这些病例分别占美国农业生产者、受雇工人、无报酬工人和移民工人总数的 9.55%、9.31%、9.39%和 9.01%。在农业工人较多的县，新冠感染率明显更高；一个县每增加 1%的受雇农业工人，新冠病例每人增加 0.04%，死亡人数每人增加 0.07%。虽然农场工人的估计新增病例与一般人群呈现相似趋势，但两者之间的相关性有时是负相关，这突出表明需要监测这一倾向于居住在农村地区的特定人群。新冠疫情导致的劳动力减少，预计将使美国农业产出减少约 3.09 亿美元。
