Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

May 11, 2020

Impact of Essential Workers in the Context of Social Distancing for Epidemic Control

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  • Milligan et al. modeled interactions among “essential” workers (EWs) including cashiers, factory employees and healthcare workers, and between essential workers and the general population to assess disease risk during a shelter-in-place scenario.  
  • Even with limited exposure to the public, EWs at high interaction workplaces such as manufacturing and food processing facilities, or with high exposure to infected individuals, such as health care workers, are at the highest individual risk of infection. In contrast, public-facing workers, such as cashiers, have a much lower individual risk, but can have a greater impact on infection transmission in the general population due to their high number of contacts. 

Milligan and Sella. (May 9, 2020). Impact of Essential Workers in the Context of Social Distancing for Epidemic Control. Pre-print downloaded May 11 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.05.20092262