US workers ill with influenza or COVID-19 were less likely to work onsite than those with other acute respiratory infections (ARIs) after the pandemic than before, concludes a study led by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers.
For the study, published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases, the researchers analyzed data from participants in the seven-state US Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network who had ARIs from 2018 to 2022.
Participants, who were aged 19 to 64 years, completed a follow-up survey 1 or 2 weeks after enrollment and were asked about their health and work. Network sites were located in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, California, Wisconsin, and Tennessee.
Prepandemic hybrid workers more likely to stay home
During the pre-COVID flu seasons, 1,245 people had confirmed flu and 2,362 had other ARIs. During the pandemic, 114 people had flu, 1,888 had COVID-19, and 2,523 had other ARIs. Among those with any ARI, 82.6% with flu, 61.4% with COVID-19, and 49.6% with other ARIs reported having fever.
Of all participants, 14.0% had worked only remotely before illness, 18.5% had hybrid experience, and 67.5% had worked onsite only.
On the third day of illness, 18.5% of participants worked remotely during the pandemic, compared with 8.8% before. In prepandemic flu seasons, 64.4% of workers with flu and 40.3% of with other ARIs worked offsite. Amid the pandemic, 66.7% of employees with COVID-19 and 48.3% with other ARIs didn't go to work.
Hybrid and remote work policies might reduce workplace exposures and help control spread of respiratory viruses.
Relative to employees without hybrid work experience, those who worked remotely were significantly more likely to telework, an effect more pronounced amid COVID-19 than during prepandemic flu seasons. In contrast, workers who had worked only onsite were more likely to not work at all on their scheduled days.
Employees with COVID-19 or flu were less likely to go to work than people with other ARIs. Few people who tested positive for COVID-19 by the second or third day of symptoms worked onsite.
"Hybrid and remote work policies might reduce workplace exposures and help control spread of respiratory viruses," the authors wrote.