Measuring Indoor Air Quality Does Not Prevent COVID-19.

Boston Public Schools (BPS) closed for in-person learning in March 2020 due to COVID-19 and didn't fully reopen until the 2021-2022 school year. Due to the age of schools and absent ventilation systems, coupled with decades of disinvestment in the infrastructure, BPS entered the pandemic with serious challenges impacting the health of students and staff. These challenges were magnified by an infectious airborne virus.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Employment Among Massachusetts Adults.

Occupational exposure may cause or exacerbate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but employment may also enhance health and well-being for people with the disorder. We used self-reported data from the 2011-2017 Massachusetts Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to examine COPD and employment among adults aged 40 to 70. Thirty-nine percent of adults with COPD were employed.

COVID-19: US federal accountability for entry, spread, and inequities-lessons for the future.

The United States (US) has been among those nations most severely affected by the first-and subsequent-phases of the pandemic of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. With only 4% of the worldwide population, the US has seen about 22% of COVID-19 deaths. Despite formidable advantages in resources and expertise, presently the per capita mortality rate is over 585/million, respectively 2.

Cleaning Products and Work-Related Asthma, 10 Year Update.

Objective: To describe the frequency of work-related asthma (WRA) and characteristics of individuals with exposure to cleaning products 1998 to 2012, compared with 1993 to 1997.

Methods: Cases of WRA from products used for cleaning or disinfecting surfaces were identified from California, Massachusetts, Michigan (1998 to 2012), New Jersey (1998 to 2011), and New York (2009 to 2012).

Results: There were 1199 (12.

Isocyanates and work-related asthma: Findings from California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey, 1993-2008.

Background: Isocyanates remain a leading cause of work-related asthma (WRA).

Methods: Two independent data systems were analyzed for the period 1993-2008: (1) State-based WRA case surveillance data on persons with isocyanate-induced WRA from four states, and (2) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) isocyanate air sampling results.

Results: We identified 368 cases of isocyanate-induced WRA from 32 industries and 678 OSHA isocyanate air samples with detectable levels from 31 industries.

Work-related asthma cluster at a syntactic foam manufacturing facility - Massachusetts 2008-2013.

Work-related asthma is asthma that is caused or exacerbated by exposure to specific substances in the workplace. Approximately 10%-16% of adult-onset asthma cases are attributable to occupational factors, and estimates of asthma exacerbated by work range from 13% to 58%. During 2008-2012, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health received nine reports of work-related asthma among workers at a facility that manufactured syntactic foam used for flotation in the offshore oil and gas industry.

Cleaning and disinfecting environmental surfaces in health care: Toward an integrated framework for infection and occupational illness prevention.

Background: The Cleaning and Disinfecting in Healthcare Working Group of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Occupational Research Agenda, is a collaboration of infection prevention and occupational health researchers and practitioners with the objective of providing a more integrated approach to effective environmental surface cleaning and disinfection (C&D) while protecting the respiratory health of health care personnel.

Methods: The Working Group, comprised of >40 members from 4 countries, reviewed current knowledge and identified knowledge gaps and future needs for research and practice.

Results: An integrated framework was developed to guide more comprehensive efforts to minimize harmful C&D exposures without reducing the effectiveness of infection prevention.

Gender differences in work-related asthma: surveillance data from California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey, 1993-2008.

Objective: To characterize work-related asthma by gender.

Methods: We analyzed state-based sentinel surveillance data on confirmed work-related asthma cases collected from California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey during 1993-2008. We used Chi-square and Fisher's Exact Test statistics to compare select characteristics between females and males.

Reducing hazardous cleaning product use: a collaborative effort.

Workplace hazards affecting vulnerable populations of low-wage and immigrant workers present a special challenge to the practice of occupational health. Unions, Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) groups, and other organizations have developed worker-led approaches to promoting safety. Public health practitioners can provide support for these efforts.

Work-related asthma in the educational services industry: California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey, 1993-2000.

Objectives: To characterize work-related asthma (WRA) cases working in the educational services industry identified by state-based occupational disease surveillance systems.

Methods: We examined 2,995 WRA cases reported from 1993 to 2000 to four states: California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey.

Results: A total of 265 (9%) WRA cases were employed in the educational services industry; 69% of cases were classified as new-onset asthma and 31% as work-aggravated asthma.

Work-related asthma among health care workers: surveillance data from California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey, 1993-1997.

Background: Asthma morbidity has increased, posing a public health burden. Work-related asthma (WRA) accounts for a significant proportion of adult asthma that causes serious personal and economic consequences.

Methods: Cases were identified using physician reports and hospital discharge data, as part of four state-based surveillance systems.

New-onset asthma associated with exposure to 3-amino-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole.

Objective: The authors conducted an investigation of a cluster of eight new-onset asthma cases identified in a chemical plant through the Sentinel Event Notification Systems for Occupational Risks (SENSOR) program.

Methods: Workplace investigation involved interviews with the asthma cases, review of medical records, and medical and industrial hygiene surveys in the plant.

Results: Altogether, 11 work-related asthma cases were identified among the plant workers-approximately 10% of the workers exposed to the potential causative agents: 3-amino-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole (AMT) or N-(2,6-difluorophenyl)-5-methyl-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine-2-sulfonamide (DE-498; trade name Flumetsulam).

Cleaning products and work-related asthma.

To describe the characteristics of individuals with work-related asthma associated with exposure to cleaning products, data from the California-, Massachusetts-, Michigan-, and New Jersey state-based surveillance systems of work-related asthma were used to identify cases of asthma associated with exposure to cleaning products at work. From 1993 to 1997, 236 (12%) of the 1915 confirmed cases of work-related asthma identified by the four states were associated with exposure to cleaning products. Eighty percent of the reports were of new-onset asthma and 20% were work-aggravated asthma.