Two weeks' paid sick leave at Walmart could have prevented 7,500 Covid cases, report finds

[turbinetree]

Largest US employer could have saved 133 lives with policy as workers fear calling in sick could lead to firing, advocates say

More than 7,500 Covid-19 infections and 133 deaths could have been prevented if Walmart offered employees two weeks of paid sick leave, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The public health not-for-profit Human Impact Partners calculated the impact that better paid sick leave could have had for employees of Walmart, the largest employer in the US, using findings from the University of Wisconsin that universal sick leave could lead to a nearly 6% reduction in coronavirus infections and deaths for workers in Wisconsin.

Researchers used the US national Covid-19 case rate to determine that at least 125,000 Walmart employees, of which the company says there are nearly 1.6m in the US, contracted Covid-19 between February 2020 and February 2021. The company has not publicly released data detailing how many employees have had the virus.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/28/walmart-coronavirus-covid-19-deaths-paid-sick-leave

[dsc]

1. I am honestly surprised it is that low

[turbinetree]

3. I thought they didn't get any at all....

[dsc]

5. I meant the COVID case and death numbers

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Me Too

They've got 2.3 million employees. (Includes part-time, and is monthly average employment)
That's about 0.7% of the population.
But, we've had >32 million COVID cases, & 7,500 is 0.025% of that.
This is disproportionate by a factor of 28.
I would have expected it far closer to 1 than it is.

[Budi]

2. As would have, NOT removing the Pandemic Response Team

As would have, NOT electing Trump.

There are lot of bigger factors to consider, & bigger glaring points of blame.

[Hoyt]

4. Maybe. They were very fair to my elderly brother when he got CV19. Gave him

all the time he needed and took him back as soon as he got well. I realize the law required much of that.

Like he says, there are very few companies in his rural area that hires people in their 80s (he’s not quite that old) and pays a decent amount. Maybe his store is different from most.

And I realize Walmart makes lots of money, but the mom and pop places he’s worked before paid significantly less, didn’t have staying power, and didn’t have supply lines like WalMart.

[AllaN01Bear]

6. tell the employees a: wear their masks . wear it above the nose and not chin.

and enforce it.