WHO'S IN AND WHO'S OUT UNDER WORKPLACE COVID SYMPTOM SCREENING?

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Public Health Policy
• Health Equity

Background:

• COVID symptom screening is a widespread workplace practice impacting millions of American workers.
• Numerous states mandate and federal guidance recommends frequent employee symptom screening.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically identify key features of workplace COVID symptom screening in a broad population.
• To explore the trade-offs employers face when implementing daily symptom screening protocols.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of a broad population's experience with common symptom screening tools.
• Examination of factors influencing screening outcomes, including symptom reporting and survey design.

Main Results:

• Common symptom checkers may screen out up to 7% of workers daily, varying by measure.
• Symptom reporting, survey design, and demographic differences influence screening outcomes.
• Disparities in symptom reporting among demographic groups, independent of COVID exposure, were observed.

Conclusions:

• The choice of symptom screening measures is critical due to variability in reporting and potential disparate impacts.
• Workplace screening practices must consider equity implications to avoid disproportionately affecting certain demographic groups.