UNH Report: Seafood workers at higher risk for COVID-19

Workers in the seafood industry were twice as likely to contract COVID-19 than employees in other food industries, according to a new study from the University of Hampshire.

Tight working conditions on vessels, as well as in seafood processing factories, appears to have played a direct role.

“You have people working, just like in any food processing, in really close quarters, working side by side together, on these food lines,” said Easton White, assistant professor of biological sciences at UNH, who led the study.

White said fishers faced challenges using PPE while onboard vessels, where a wet environment made the use of masks less effective.

The report, published in the journal PeerJ, based its findings on media reports and documented outbreaks between April 2020 and July 2021. ...