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Published on: July 10, 2017
COVID-19 Risk Assessment Among Vulnerable Small Business Owners in El Paso County, Texas
Sadie H Conway1, Denise Vasquez, Kristina D Mena
1From the Smith Scientific LLC, Houston, TX (S.H.C.); UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, El Paso, Texas (D.V., K.D.M., L.D.B.); Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute, Houston, Texas (D.V., J.R.); Scientific Innovation & Business Performance LLC, Little Rock, Arkansas S.K.); and UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Houston, Texas (J.R.).
Background:
Our objective was to deliver actionable, worksite-specific COVID-19 risk assessments and mitigation strategies tailored to vulnerable workers in one of the highest-risk areas in the US.
Methods:
Four trained, bilingual (English/Spanish) community health workers (CHWs) recruited small businesses (ie, ≤20 employees) across various industries and executed novel on-site infectious disease risk assessment surveys of at least one employer and one employee.
Results:
Of 102 participating businesses (95% Hispanic-owned), 96% were characterized as "high risk" or "very high risk" for disease transmission. All businesses reported implementing at least one practice to reduce disease transmission; however, almost half of businesses lacked at least 13 of the 17 controls identified to mitigate risk.
Conclusions:
Tailored, culturally sensitive outreach led by CHWs identified and educated businesses on critical hazards, and these methods may be transferable to similar communities.
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