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Key Points
November 04, 2020
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In Today’s Recommendation for Industry, we review the Risk Matrix and provide a snapshot of what is happening in the U.S. and how states are doing. Read more.
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Did you miss Dr. Ben Miller’s discussion on utilizing Assurance Testing as part of your COVID-19 preventive protocols? Catch the recorded webinar on Youtube, here.
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Don’t forget to also hit the “Subscribe” button below the video (on TAG’s Youtube channel) for more exciting videos!
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A recent study published in Science found that COVID-19 antibodies persisted for at least 5 months in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 cases. The persistence and effects of antibodies (be it short or long) is still being studied.
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In Case You Missed It:
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On Monday, we answered questions on asymptomatic COVID-19. Read more here.
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As states are slowly re-opening dine-in services in restaurants, OSHA has released Guidance for Restaurants to protect their businesses, their employees, and their customers. Find the downloadable infographic in English (link) and Spanish (link).
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OSHA has put out an infographic of Steps to Protect Cleaning Staff During COVID-19. This infographic is downloadable in English (link) and Spanish (link). Protect those working to protect your business and ensure they have the resources needed!
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November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. This year’s theme is Taking Care of Youth Who Have Diabetes. As those with diabetes face a higher chance of experiencing serious complications from COVID-19, protecting diabetic youth working in the food and agriculture industry during the COVID-19 epidemic is imperative. Find more resources from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
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Recommendations for Industry
Remain Vigilant Re: 50-State Matrix
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The Acheson Group’s U.S. Risk Matrix has calculated an Outbreak Index using a series of variables that include Test Positive Rates, Effective Rates of Transmissions, and Social Distancing Values. Through this, the Risk Matrix identifies states in various quadrants from Lower Risk to Highest-Risk.
The ongoing rise of COVID-19 in nearly every state, as shown in this week’s matrices, provides continuing evidence of the challenges of reducing the spread of the virus. It also shows the need to remain vigilant. If you have been implementing stringent protocols (face masks, distancing, handwashing, sanitation, etc.), there is not a lot more you can do. BUT you do need to continuing doing these, and emphasizing to your employees the seriousness of community spread and the importance of maintaining the practices once they leave work as well. COVID fatigue is real, but we can’t let it allow us to drop our guard and open the door to further the spread of the virus.
As of November 03, 2020, 31 states are in the Highest-Risk Quadrant (Outbreak Index > 50). This is up from last week’s 30 states, and 23 states from two weeks ago! States in the Highest-Risk Quadrant are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
Although more states are in the Highest-Risk Quadrant, the average U.S. Mobility Index increased from 6% (last week) to 7% (this week), indicating even greater decreases in mobility throughout the U.S. (people are seemingly staying at home more).
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Seven (7) states (California, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts) have reversed their re-opening policies, which varies by state.
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Eight (8) states (Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Hawaii, Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, Connecticut) are partially re-opening to varying levels.
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Six (6) states (Maine, Rhode Island, Delaware, North Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas) are pausing re-opening.
As shown in Table 1, TAG has calculated that 13 states have a TPR greater than 10% indicating the current level of testing may not be fully characterizing the severity of the outbreaks in these states. These states are:
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South Dakota: 50%
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Iowa: 37%
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Kansas: 36%
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Idaho: 33%
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Wyoming: 30%
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Alabama: 20%
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Montana: 18%
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Utah, Wisconsin: 15%
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Pennsylvania: 14%
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North Dakota, Missouri: 13%
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Arizona: 12%
We also have displayed a table the past 4 weeks of case rates/100,000 persons per state, showing how outbreaks may be expanding and/or contracting in different states (Table 2). Case rate information is useful for identifying trends over a 2- to 4-week period. This information allows for relative risk comparisons to be made among regions and plants. This analysis calculates a 7-day rolling average of the number of cases per 100,000 people in the regions. A case rate >25 would indicate that an outbreak is uncontrolled and strict measures be undertaken to ensure safety of site and/or people (as highlighted in red with red text on the graph).
Outbreak Updates
As of November 04 2020 (13:50 ET), there are over >47,706,000 cases (>1,218,000 deaths) worldwide.
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Due to the increasing number of cases in the United States, TAG will move from reporting counts per country to focus on the United States, please see here for the data. For further information regarding worldwide numbers, please refer to John Hopkin University’s aggregate map.
Keep up to date with COVID-19:
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