Impact of Occupational Exposure to COVID-19 on the Physical and Mental Health of an Essential Workgroup: New York City Transit Workers

Since early March 2020, Drs. Robyn Gershon, Alexis Merdjanoff, and Rachael Piltch-Loeb met with the leadership of the Transport Workers Union, Local 100 (TWU) to collaborate on research that was a first step toward determining risk factors for COVID-19 exposure in this essential workforce. They incorporated data from a pilot study of roughly 200 transit workers, which they hoped would lead to a much larger study involving thousands of transit workers across more than 70 job categories. Using confidential surveys, they aimed to understand the physical and mental health impacts of the pandemic and develop guidelines to prevent further adverse outcomes.