Emergency temporary standards and COVID-19 trends among Oregon farmworkers

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Migrant and seasonal farmworkers are essential to US agriculture but faced increased SARS-CoV-2 exposure risks due to housing and transport conditions.
• Farmworker advocates pushed for emergency temporary standards (ETSs) to mitigate COVID-19 risks.
• Limited research exists on the effectiveness of specific interventions for protecting farmworkers during the pandemic.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of Oregon's COVID-19 emergency temporary standards (ETSs) and an executive order on transmission rates.
• To assess the effectiveness of policies targeting farmworker housing, transportation, and worksites versus general workplace regulations.

Main Methods:

• An interrupted time series analysis was employed to examine COVID-19 trends.
• Data spanned from March 1, 2020, to February 27, 2021, in Oregon.
• Analysis included the general population and agricultural labor groups.

Main Results:

• ETSs and an executive order targeting farmworker-specific conditions showed no significant impact on COVID-19 cases or deaths.
• An ETS targeting all workplaces demonstrated significant decreases in COVID-19 cases across various worker groups, including general population, producers, hired, unpaid, and migrant workers.
• No policy interventions significantly impacted COVID-19-associated deaths.

Conclusions:

• A general workplace ETS was more effective in reducing COVID-19 transmission than policies narrowly focused on farmworkers.
• The design, communication, and implementation strategies for farmworker-specific ETSs require re-evaluation for improved efficacy.