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CIDRAP NEWS SCAN: COVID-19 in food, ag workers; H5N8 avian flu in Israel

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  • CIDRAP NEWS SCAN: COVID-19 in food, ag workers; H5N8 avian flu in Israel

    Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-pers...an-oct-20-2020

    News Scan for Oct 20, 2020
    COVID-19 in food, ag workers; H5N8 avian flu in Israel
    Filed Under:
    COVID-19; Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)


    Minorities in food, agriculture jobs especially hard hit by COVID-19

    Racial and ethnic minority workers have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in food manufacturing and agriculture workplaces, according to a study yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
    Demographics were not available for all 742 sites surveyed across 30 states, but for those that were, 83.2% of confirmed cases involved minorities even though they made up only 47.4% of all workers.
    Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and their state partners looked at state health department data for workers in food manufacturing and agricultural workplaces from Mar 1 through May 31, finding 8,978 cases and 55 (0.6%) deaths. High-contact jobs, high-density workplaces, and shared housing and transportation all increased risk factors. Of the 5,957 cases that included information on symptoms, 4,957 (83.2%) of patients reported symptoms, while 1,000 (16.8%) were asymptomatic or presymptomatic.
    Only 5,721 cases in 28 states included racial or ethnic information, and 4,164 of those infections (72.8%) were found in Hispanic employees—a population that made up only 36.5% of the studied workforce. White workers made up 52.6% of the workforce and 16.8% of the cases, black workers 5.9% and 6.3%, and Asian/Pacific Islander workers 1.5% and 4.1%, respectively. Other characteristics that were tabulated when possible were sex (61.6% of cases were found in men and 38.4% in women) and age (44.3% of infections occurred in people 20 to 39 years old).
    The authors conclude, "These findings should be considered when implementing workplace interventions to ensure communication and training are culturally and linguistically tailored for each workforce." They add that better testing strategies, contact tracing, and symptom screening are needed. These findings are similar to earlier CDC studies that focused on the meat and poultry industries (May 8, Jul 10).
    Oct 19 Emerg Infect Dis study

    H5N8 avian flu strikes poultry farm and nature park in Israel

    Israel has reported two more highly pathogenic H5N8 avian flu outbreaks, one at a commercial poultry farm and the other at a nature preserve, according to the latest notifications from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
    The poultry farm outbreak began on Oct 17 in one pen at a poultry breeding facility in Hazafon, killing 65 of 34,000 susceptible birds. The survivors were slated for culling. Officials said the source of the virus is probably contact with wild migratory birds and the event is the first at a farm since April 2019.
    Also, the country reported an outbreak at a nature preserve in Tel Aviv that started on Oct 17 with the discovery of a young swan found dead in the water of a lake. Investigators said the virus likely came from contact with wild species, given that about 500 million migratory birds from Europe are currently passing over Israel. The country recently reported a similar outbreak at a Jerusalem zoo.
    Oct 19 OIE report on H5N8 at Israeli poultry farm
    Oct 19 OIE report on H5N8 at Israeli nature park








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