# NYC Transit Workers and COVID-19: Impact of Multilevel Interventions

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $725,664

## Abstract

SUMMARY (ABSTRACT)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City (NYC) public transportation has been an essential service to
assure that other essential workers can get to their jobs. Many of the predominantly racial and ethnic minority
transit workers have been exposed to risks at both work and at home, as many workers also reside in high
prevalence communities. The pandemic thrust transit workers into the role of frontline workers, even
though they lacked the training, experience, supplies, equipment, and supervision typically provided for
traditional frontline workers (i.e., health care and first responders). This study, conducted in partnership with
the Transport Workers Union (TWU), Local 100, is designed to: (1) evaluate the cumulative impact of multi-
level interventions to date on current worker health and resilience; (2) develop and assess a worker-driven
model of crisis management to facilitate worker resilience as the pandemic and policy responses evolve (e.g.,
restore lock-down with resurgence; deployment of vaccine); and (3) disseminate findings to provide input into
policy changes and operations to protect non-healthcare essential workers during pandemic events with a
focus to decrease health disparities in high-risk populations.
To achieve these aims, we propose to conduct serial cross-sectional surveys of a systematic sample of the
NYC transit workforce, with the logistical assistance of TWU, representing nearly 40,000 subway and bus
workers. Timing of subsequent surveys will be dynamic to capture real-time shifts in the pandemic and ongoing
changes in policies and practices that impact transit workers. In the first phase, we will first examine the impact
of multilevel interventions already implemented by several entities, including: (a) federal, state, and local
governments and agencies; (b) the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), the public authority in charge of NYC
Transit; and (c) TWU, which provided advocacy, reinforcement of multilevel interventions, referrals, and social
support. Guided by a new Pandemic Preparedness and Resilience model and informed by data from our
recent transit workers pilot study, the existing multilevel interventions will be mapped onto the NIMHD
framework and evaluated to determine their impact on workers’ outcomes (e.g., infection, psychosocial,
behavioral, interpersonal relations, resilience), perceived impact of TWU interventions (e.g., advocacy,
reinforcement with outreach for education and social support), and individual adoption of recommended
practices designed to mitigate community and workplace spread. We will examine potentially moderating
effects of age, sex/gender, race, ethnicity, and occupational characteristics of the workers. Initial and
subsequent survey data will inform ongoing Participatory Action Research (PAR) teams comprised of
academics, workers and other key stakeholders who will formulate data-driven strategies to increase
effectiveness of the multilevel interventions and f...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10249497
- **Project number:** 1R01NR020174-01
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** ROBYN R.M. GERSHON
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $725,664
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-17 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10249497

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10249497, NYC Transit Workers and COVID-19: Impact of Multilevel Interventions (1R01NR020174-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10249497. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*