Assessment of Environmental and Occupational Risk Factors for the Mitigation and Containment of a COVID-19 Outbreak in a Meat Processing Plant
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Abstract
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, meat processing plants have been vulnerable to outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Transmission of the virus is difficult to control in these settings because of a combination of factors including environmental conditions and the specific nature of the work. This paper describes a retrospective outbreak investigation in a meat processing plant, a description of the measures taken to prevent or contain further outbreaks, and insights on how those with specific knowledge of the working environment of these plants can collaborate with public health authorities to ensure optimal outbreak control. The plant experienced 111 confirmed positive asymptomatic cases in total with an estimated attack rate of 38% during a five-week period. 4 weeks after the first case, mass screening of all workers was conducted by the public health authorities. Thirty-two workers tested positive, of which 16 (50%) worked in one particular area of the plant, the boning hall ( n = 60). The research team prepared and carried out semi-structured interviews with the plant personnel who were charged with COVID control within the plant. They carried out assessments of operational risk factors and also undertook air quality monitoring in the boning hall and abattoir. The air quality measurements in the boning hall showed a gradual build-up of carbon dioxide and aerosol particles over the course of a work shift, confirming that this poorly ventilated area of the plant had an environment that was highly favorable for aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Assessment of operational conditions incorporated visual surveys of the plant during the working day. Prior to and during the first 2 weeks of the outbreak, multiple measures were introduced into the plant by management, including physical distancing, provision of educational material to workers, visitor restrictions, and environmental monitoring. After the implementation of these measures and their progressive refinement by plant management, the factory had no further linked cases (clusters) or outbreaks for the following 198 days. The tailored approach to risk mitigation adopted in this meat processing plant shows that generic risk mitigation measures, as recommended by public health authorities, can be successfully adapted and optimized by designated plant emergency response teams.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.17.21262959: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: 2.5 Ethical Clearance: University College Dublin Human Research Ethics committee provided ethical clearance (LS-E-20-196-Mulcahy).
Consent: All participants provided informed consent for inclusion in the study.Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:There are limitations to our study which it is important …
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.17.21262959: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: 2.5 Ethical Clearance: University College Dublin Human Research Ethics committee provided ethical clearance (LS-E-20-196-Mulcahy).
Consent: All participants provided informed consent for inclusion in the study.Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:There are limitations to our study which it is important to acknowledge. We have presented a retrospective analysis carried out in one meat processing plant, involving an investigation of events that occurred months previously. It is important to note that the data collected was provided by the local management team in the meat plant some months after the events described and was based on details that workers disclosed to their employer at the time of the outbreak and this may have introduced different types of bias, including recall bias. The bioaerosol measurements reported here were also limited to a total of five days in two different areas of the plant. Further studies of COVID-19 in MPPs are indicated as a public good - such work is progressing in Ireland, supported by the State, including the public health authorities, by the meat industry and by all other relevant stakeholders.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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