Understanding the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small Businesses and Workers Using Quantitative and Qualitative Methods.

The COVID-19 pandemic has simultaneously exacerbated and elucidated inequities in resource distribution for small businesses across the United States in terms of worker health and the financial stability of both owners and employees. This disparity was further intensified by the constantly changing and sometimes opposing health and safety guidelines and recommendations to businesses from the local, state, and federal government agencies. To better understand how the pandemic has impacted small businesses, a cross-sectional survey was administered to owners, managers, and workers (n = 45) in the beauty and auto shop sectors from Southern Arizona. The survey identified barriers to safe operation that these businesses faced during the pandemic, illuminated worker concerns about COVID-19, and elicited perceptions of how workplaces have changed since the novel coronavirus outbreak of 2019. A combination of open-ended and close-ended questions explored how businesses adapted to the moving target of pandemic safety recommendations, as well as how the pandemic affected businesses and workers more generally. Almost all the beauty salons surveyed had to close their doors (22/25), either temporarily or permanently, due to COVID-19, while most of the auto repair shops were able to stay open (13/20). Beauty salons were more likely to implement exposure controls meant to limit transmission with customers and coworkers, such as wearing face masks and disallowing walk-ins, and were also more likely to be affected by pandemic-related issues, such as reduced client load and sourcing difficulties. Auto shops, designated by the state of Arizona to be 'essential' businesses, were less likely to have experienced financial precarity due to the pandemic. Content analysis of open-ended questions using the social-ecological model documented current and future worker concerns, namely financial hardships from lockdowns and the long-term viability of their business, unwillingness of employees to return to work, uncertainty regarding the progression of the pandemic, conflict over suitable health and safety protocols, and personal or family health and well-being (including anxiety and/or stress). Findings from the survey indicate that small businesses did not have clear guidance from policymakers during the pandemic and that the enacted regulations and guidelines focused on either health and safety or finances, but rarely both. Businesses often improvised and made potentially life-changing decisions with little to no support. This analysis can be used to inform future pandemic preparedness plans for small businesses that are cost-efficient, effective at reducing environmental exposures, and ultimately more likely to be implemented by the workers.

What a mix! Volatile organic compounds and worker exposure in small business beauty salons in Tucson, Arizona.

Introduction: Small business beauty salons have volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their workplace air. VOCs are present as ingredients in beauty or hair products. They may also form because of chemical reactions, where thermal-styling elements accelerate the volatilization of these compounds. Uncertainties remain about the relationship between air pollutant concentrations and the variety of beauty salon activities in a work shift. Investigating these associations can help determine high-risk services, associated products, and at-risk workers. Methods: In this exploratory study, female community health workers recruited beauty salons from target zip codes in predominately Latino neighborhoods, including primarily Spanish-speaking small businesses. We collected salon chemical inventories, business characteristics, and participant activity logs to understand how chemicals and activities influence the total and specific VOC concentrations. We sampled personal total VOCs and specific VOCs from the same shop during the participant work shift. We also measured personal total VOCs for four work shifts per shop. Results: A linear mixed effects model of log VOCs on the fixed effect of activity and the random effects of salon and shift within the salon showed that the variance between salons explains over half (55%) of the total variance and is 4.1 times bigger than for shifts within salons. Summa canisters detected 31 specific VOCs, and hazard scores ranged between 0 and 4.3. 2-Propanol (isopropyl alcohol) was the only VOC detected in all shifts of all salons. Discussion: In this study, differences in VOC measurements were primarily between salons. These differences may result from differences in ventilation, services rendered, and product lines applied.

Thinking on your feet: Beauty and auto small businesses maneuver the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic, and governments and health institutions enacted various public health measures to decrease its transmission rate. The COVID-19 pandemic made occupational health disparities for small businesses more visible and created an unprecedented financial burden, particularly for those located in communities of color. In part, communities of color experienced disproportionate mortality and morbidity rates from COVID-19 due to their increased exposure. The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the public to reflect on risks daily. Risk perception is a critical factor influencing how risk gets communicated and perceived by individuals, groups, and communities. This study explores competing risk perceptions regarding COVID-19, economic impacts, vaccination, and disinfectant exposures of workers at beauty salons and auto shops in Tucson, Arizona, using a perceived risk score measured on a scale of 1-10, with higher scores indicating more perceived risk. The primary differences between respondents at beauty salons and auto shops regarding their perceived risks of COVID-19 vaccination were between the vaccinated and unvaccinated. For every group except the unvaccinated, the perceived risk score of getting the COVID-19 vaccine was low, and the score of not getting the COVID-19 vaccine was high. Study participants in different demographic groups ranked economic risk the highest compared to the other five categories: getting the COVID-19 vaccine, not getting the COVID-19 vaccine, COVID-19, disinfection, and general. A meaningful increase of four points in the perceived risk score of not getting the COVID-19 vaccine was associated with a 227% (95% CI: 27%, 740%) increase in the odds of being vaccinated. Analyzing these data collected during the coronavirus pandemic may provide insight into how to promote the health-protective behavior of high-risk workers and employers in the service sector during times of new novel threats (such as a future pandemic or crisis) and how they process competing risks.