Occupational Risks and Safety Precautions for COVID-19 in Workers With Rheumatic Diseases.

Abstract

C oronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide rapidly and was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization. Many countries have planned and put into effect various strategies containing different levels of measures against the outbreak. Although the risk for severe COVID-19 increases with age, the measures have also targeted individuals in the working age category. The main reason is that the workplace may be the media where the infection quickly spreads among workers. Several occupational groups related to COVID-19 transmission were identified in China and Singapore, even at the very beginning of the pandemic. The work-related risks, including having a front-line job or using public transportation to go towork, are considered as one of the reasons for racial inequity for COVID-19 risk. In addition, in the presence of risk factors for severe infection, workers and/or their relatives would also be severely affected if appropriate measures were not applied. As mostly occurring in the working-age population, certain rheumatic diseases may be evaluated in this context, particularly when treated with immunosuppressive therapy. In this article, we provide our perspectives on occupational risks and safety precautions for COVID-19 in workers with rheumatic diseases.