Emergency temporary standards and COVID-19 trends among Oregon farmworkers

Raul Cruz-Cano and Devon C Payne-Sturges

PLOS ONE, 2025, vol. 20, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, migrant and seasonal farmworkers were deemed essential due to their central roles in US agricultural operations. However, employer-provided housing and transportation conditions increased their risks of SARS-CoV-2 exposure, and some states implemented emergency temporary standards (ETSs) at the insistence of farmworker advocates. Despite numerous studies examining the effectiveness of policy interventions (e.g., workplace closures) for mitigating SARS-CoV-2 transmission, limited research has specifically examined the effectiveness of interventions aimed at protecting farmworkers from COVID-19. Methods: We used an interrupted time series analysis to estimate how two ETSs and one executive order issued in Oregon impacted COVID-19 trends from March 1, 2020, to February 27, 2021, for the overall population and among agricultural labor groups in Oregon. Results: Our models show that the ETS and executive order, which specifically targeted farmworker housing, transportation, and worksites, did not demonstrate any significant effects on the numbers of COVID-19 cases or associated deaths. However, the other ETS, which targeted all workplaces, was associated with statistically significant decreases in COVID-19 cases among the general population (−142.36214, p-value

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0329130

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0329130

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