COVID-19 Workplace Outbreaks by Industry Sector and Their Associated Household Transmission, Ontario, Canada, January to June, 2020

Murti, Michelle; Achonu, Camille; Smith, Brendan T.; Brown, Kevin A.; Kim, Jin Hee; Johnson, James; Ravindran, Saranyah; Buchan, Sarah A.

To analyze workplace outbreaks by industry sector in the first wave of the pandemic, and associated household cases. METHODS: Number, size, and duration of outbreaks were described by sector, and outbreak cases were compared to sporadic cases in the same time frame. Address matching identified household cases with onset ≥2 days before, ≥2 days after, or within 1 day of the workplace outbreak case. RESULTS: There were 199 outbreaks with 1245 cases, and 68% of outbreaks and 80% of cases belonged to (1) Manufacturing, (2) Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Hunting, (3) Transportation and Warehousing. There were 608 household cases associated with 339 (31%) outbreak cases, increasing the burden of illness by 56%. CONCLUSIONS: Workplace outbreaks primarily occurred in three sectors. Prevention measures should target industry sectors at risk to prevent spread in and out of the workplace.