09/13/22: Understanding COVID-19 Among Industrial Livestock Operation Workers: Salivary Bio-markers & Mixed Method Approaches

Recorded on Tuesday, September 13, 2022

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COVID19 Among Industrial Livestock Operation Workers: Salivary Bio-markers & Mixed Method Approaches

About the webinar:

Industrial livestock operations (ILOs), particularly livestock processing facilities, emerged as centers of COVID-19 outbreaks across the United States in early spring of 2020. In collaboration with a North Carolina community organization, we conducted a prospective cohort study of ILO workers, their household members, and community residents in metropolitan areas of North Carolina to compare SARS-CoV-2 infection and antibody levels. Higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid IgG antibody, which suggests recent COVID-19 infection, were present among ILO workers and their household members compared to nearby or metropolitan area residents. Questionnaire responses showed inadequate protections against the spread of COVID-19. This webinar will review the bio-marker and mixed  methods approaches used to explore COVID-19 in ILOs, as well as discuss workplace health and safety across the hierarchy of controls during COVID-19. 

Learning Objectives

At the completion of this activity, the learner will be able to:

  • Summarize & assess health risks associated with industrial livestock operation work

  • Compare health risks from industrial livestock production and processing work

  • Apply the hierarchy of controls to determine and evaluate workplace health and safety interventions to prevent the spread of infectious disease

Speaker: Carolyn Gigot, AB

Carolyn Gigot is a 4th year PhD candidate in Environmental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is interested in mixed methods and spatial analysis for exposure and risk assessment. Before beginning her PhD, she worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency as an ORAU contractor, contributing to chemical health hazard assessments and supporting the integration of additional systematic review tools and methods. She received a bachelor’s degree in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology with a secondary field in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University in 2016.

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About Johns Hopkins ERC for Occupational Safety and Health:

The Johns Hopkins Education and Research Center (ERC) for Occupational Safety and Health provides an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to training researchers and practitioners in the field of occupational safety and health with the ultimate goal of protecting the safety and health of all workers.