These CA Workers Were Impacted Most By The COVID-19 Pandemic: Study

CALIFORNIA — Those who have worked in public spaces throughout the coronavirus pandemic have consistently had a harder time dodging infections. A new study revealed that public transit employees were hit especially hard.

The study — authored by the California Department of Public Health and published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday — found that COVID-19 outbreaks were far more common in the public transportation industry.

"Regardless of whether exposures occur from interactions with the public, coworkers, or other sources, these observations indicate that public transportation workers represent a vulnerable group who should be prioritized for COVID-19 prevention strategies," researchers wrote in the study.

The study found that outbreaks were five times as likely on bus service and urban transit workplaces as 3.6 times as likely in the air transportation industry.

Authors suggested that these workers should have better access to vaccination efforts, information and antiviral treatments. The study also suggested that these workers should have better workplace protection measures such as improved ventilation and access to K95s.

The study examined 340 confirmed outbreaks within California's public transportation industries over a 29-month-period, including air transportation, the bus service and urban transit industry.

Of the confirmed outbreaks, 57 percent were identified in bus and urban transit workers. Meanwhile, the largest share of outbreak-associated cases were detected in air transportation workers. The largest number of deaths, 50 percent, occurred among workers in transportation support services.

Researchers identified 5,641 coronavirus cases and 537 deaths in those outbreaks. During the same time there were 24.7 COVID-19 outbreaks for every 1,000 workplaces across all industries combined, the study says.

The universal masking requirement on public transit was called off earlier this year but many cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles have kept their mask mandates. However, crowds largely eschewed masks while traveling through Los Angeles International Airport this summer.

"We continue to consider transit and transit hubs as places where we really should add in an extra layer of protection, particularly when transmission is high," said Los Angeles Public Health Officer Barbara Ferrer.

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