Relationship of working arrangements and getting COVID-19 in the outpatients: “in the same storm but different boats”

Objective: It was aimed to examine the relationship between a getting COVID-19 and socioeconomic variables, employment status, and working arrangements including remote working and alternate working status. Methods: The study was conducted between 1-8 June 2021 on 1090 people. It was conducted face-to-face interviews with patients who applied to tertiary outpatients in Ankara/Türkiye. A convenient sampling method was used for determining people. Except for emergency services, all outpatient clinics were included in the study. The self-reported information was used to determine the history of getting COVID-19. Results: The regression model including all participants shows that getting COVID-19 risk higher in workers (OR: 1.719 95% CI:1.142-2.587) according to non-workers and 30-39 age group according to 18-30 (OR: 1.669 95% CI: 1.032-2.701). Bivariate analysis, including current workers, there was a statistically significant difference between income groups in terms of getting COVID-19 (p<0.05). The prevalence of COVID-19 is higher in people who attend workplace throughout the pandemic (31.3%) than in people who work remotely for a period of time (21.8%)(p<0.05); additionally, it is higher in people who have never worked alternately (33.5%) than in people who work alternately for a period of time (22.2%) during the pandemic (p<0.05). Regression model only including currently workers shows that getting COVID-19 risk higher in those who had never worked alternately during the pandemic period (OR: 1.749 95% CI: 1.091-2.804). Conclusion: Working arrangements are among the nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) effective in combating the pandemic. More lives could be saved in future epidemics by implementing work arrangements to include more workers.