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Worker Perspectives on COVID-19 Risks: A Qualitative Study of Latino Construction Workers in Oakland, California

Latino construction workers in the U.S. have faced a disproportionate risk for COVID-19 infection in the workplace. Prior studies have focused on quantifying workplace risk for COVID-19 infection; few have captured workers’ experiences and perspectives. This study describes COVID-19-related workplac...

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Autores principales: Meza, Erika, Giglio, Leslie, Franco, Ana O., Rodriguez, Elizabeth, Stock, Laura, Balmes, John, Torres, Jacqueline M., Fernandez, Alicia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9408167/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36011454
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169822
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author Meza, Erika
Giglio, Leslie
Franco, Ana O.
Rodriguez, Elizabeth
Stock, Laura
Balmes, John
Torres, Jacqueline M.
Fernandez, Alicia
author_facet Meza, Erika
Giglio, Leslie
Franco, Ana O.
Rodriguez, Elizabeth
Stock, Laura
Balmes, John
Torres, Jacqueline M.
Fernandez, Alicia
author_sort Meza, Erika
collection PubMed
description Latino construction workers in the U.S. have faced a disproportionate risk for COVID-19 infection in the workplace. Prior studies have focused on quantifying workplace risk for COVID-19 infection; few have captured workers’ experiences and perspectives. This study describes COVID-19-related workplace risks from the perspectives of Latino construction workers. We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured phone interviews with Latino construction workers from the Fruitvale District of Oakland, California. Twenty individuals were interviewed from December 2020 to March 2021. Nearly all participants (19/20) were Spanish-speaking men; mean age 42.6 years. The majority were low-income and over one-third did not have health insurance. Participants worked in varied construction-related jobs ranging from demolition to office work; additionally, four were day laborers, and three belonged to a labor union. We identified four major themes with public health policy and workplace safety implications: (1) Major concern about the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection for family health and economic wellbeing; (2) Clarity about mask use and social distancing but not disclosure; (3) Variability in access to additional resources provided by employers; and (4) Uncertainty around structural support for SARS-CoV-2 quarantine/isolation. Our findings provide further evidence from workers’ own perspectives of the major gaps experienced during the pandemic in workplace protections and resources.
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spelling pubmed-94081672022-08-26 Worker Perspectives on COVID-19 Risks: A Qualitative Study of Latino Construction Workers in Oakland, California Meza, Erika Giglio, Leslie Franco, Ana O. Rodriguez, Elizabeth Stock, Laura Balmes, John Torres, Jacqueline M. Fernandez, Alicia Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Latino construction workers in the U.S. have faced a disproportionate risk for COVID-19 infection in the workplace. Prior studies have focused on quantifying workplace risk for COVID-19 infection; few have captured workers’ experiences and perspectives. This study describes COVID-19-related workplace risks from the perspectives of Latino construction workers. We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured phone interviews with Latino construction workers from the Fruitvale District of Oakland, California. Twenty individuals were interviewed from December 2020 to March 2021. Nearly all participants (19/20) were Spanish-speaking men; mean age 42.6 years. The majority were low-income and over one-third did not have health insurance. Participants worked in varied construction-related jobs ranging from demolition to office work; additionally, four were day laborers, and three belonged to a labor union. We identified four major themes with public health policy and workplace safety implications: (1) Major concern about the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection for family health and economic wellbeing; (2) Clarity about mask use and social distancing but not disclosure; (3) Variability in access to additional resources provided by employers; and (4) Uncertainty around structural support for SARS-CoV-2 quarantine/isolation. Our findings provide further evidence from workers’ own perspectives of the major gaps experienced during the pandemic in workplace protections and resources. MDPI 2022-08-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9408167/ /pubmed/36011454 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169822 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Meza, Erika
Giglio, Leslie
Franco, Ana O.
Rodriguez, Elizabeth
Stock, Laura
Balmes, John
Torres, Jacqueline M.
Fernandez, Alicia
Worker Perspectives on COVID-19 Risks: A Qualitative Study of Latino Construction Workers in Oakland, California
title Worker Perspectives on COVID-19 Risks: A Qualitative Study of Latino Construction Workers in Oakland, California
title_full Worker Perspectives on COVID-19 Risks: A Qualitative Study of Latino Construction Workers in Oakland, California
title_fullStr Worker Perspectives on COVID-19 Risks: A Qualitative Study of Latino Construction Workers in Oakland, California
title_full_unstemmed Worker Perspectives on COVID-19 Risks: A Qualitative Study of Latino Construction Workers in Oakland, California
title_short Worker Perspectives on COVID-19 Risks: A Qualitative Study of Latino Construction Workers in Oakland, California
title_sort worker perspectives on covid-19 risks: a qualitative study of latino construction workers in oakland, california
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9408167/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36011454
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169822
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