Vergara Ximena P, Gibb Kathryn, Bui David P, Gebreegziabher Elisabeth, Ullman Elon, Peerless Kyle
Heluna Health, 3300 Crossroads Pkwy. N #450, City of Industry, CA 91746, USA.
California Department of Public Health, Occupational Health Branch, 850 Marina Bay Pkwy. P-3, Richmond, CA 94804, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025 Mar 18;22(3):448. doi: 10.3390/ijerph22030448.
The risk of workplace SARS-CoV-2 transmission is increased by aerosolization or droplets and increased respiratory rates or increased viral stability in cold environments. Few methods exist for identifying occupational risks of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. We extended a SARS-CoV-2 job exposure matrix (JEM) into four dimensions, talking loudly (Loud) (very loud, loud, somewhat loud, or not), physical activity (PA) (high, medium or low), and cold (Cold) (cold or not) and hot environments (Hot) (hot or not), using data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) and a priori questions for each and noise measurements for 535 occupations. We classified 70%+ occupations as loud or very loud (74.6%); whereas 13.8% were high PA, 18.5% exposed to cold, and 23.7% exposed to hot temperatures. Applying to California 2019 workforce data to explore by race/ethnicity and sex, we found 21.2% worked in very loud and 12.6% in high PA occupations and 15.7% in cold and 17.8% hot environments. Latino workers were highly represented in very loud and high PA levels among farming (83.8 and 78.4%) and construction (58.7% and 50.3%). More males worked in each highest exposure level than females. This JEM provides aerosol transmission proxies for COVID-19 risk factors and merits investigation as a tool for epidemiologic studies.
在工作场所,新冠病毒通过气溶胶或飞沫传播的风险会因呼吸频率增加、寒冷环境中病毒稳定性增强而上升。目前识别新冠病毒职业传播风险的方法很少。我们将新冠病毒职业暴露矩阵(JEM)扩展到四个维度,即大声说话(Loud)(非常大声、大声、有点大声或不说话)、身体活动(PA)(高、中或低)、寒冷(Cold)(寒冷或不寒冷)和炎热环境(Hot)(炎热或不炎热),使用来自职业信息网络(O*NET)的数据以及针对每个维度的先验问题,并对535种职业进行了噪音测量。我们将70%以上的职业归类为大声或非常大声(74.6%);而13.8%为高身体活动水平,18.5%暴露于寒冷环境,23.7%暴露于高温环境。将该矩阵应用于加利福尼亚州2019年劳动力数据,按种族/族裔和性别进行探索,我们发现21.2%的人从事非常大声的职业,12.6%从事高身体活动水平的职业,15.7%暴露于寒冷环境,17.8%暴露于炎热环境。在农业(83.8%和78.4%)和建筑业(58.7%和50.3%)中,拉丁裔工人在非常大声和高身体活动水平的职业中占比很高。在每个最高暴露水平的职业中,男性从业者多于女性。这个职业暴露矩阵为新冠病毒风险因素提供了气溶胶传播代理指标,作为流行病学研究工具值得进一步研究。