The Research and Development Survey (RANDS) is a platform designed for conducting survey question evaluation and statistical research. RANDS is an ongoing series of surveys from probability-sampled commercial survey panels used for methodological research at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). RANDS estimates were generated using an experimental approach that differs from the survey design approaches generally used by NCHS, including possible biases from different response patterns and increased variability from lower sample sizes. Use of the RANDS platform allowed NCHS to produce more timely data than would have been possible using our traditional data collection methods. RANDS is not designed to replace NCHS’ higher quality, core data collections. Below we provide experimental estimates of loss of work due to illness with coronavirus for two rounds of RANDS during COVID-19. Data collection for the first round occurred between June 9, 2020 and July 6, 2020 and data collection for the second round occurred between August 3, 2020 and August 20, 2020. Information needed to interpret these estimates can be found in the Technical Notes.
NCHS included a question about the inability to work due to being sick or having a family member sick with COVID-19. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted by NCHS, is the source for high-quality data to monitor work-loss days and work limitations in the United States. For example, in 2018, 42.7% of adults missed at least one day of work in the previous year due to illness or injury and 9.3% of adults were limited in their ability to work or unable to work due to physical, mental, or emotional problems.
The experimental estimates on this page are derived from RANDS and show the percentage of U.S. adults who did not work for pay at a job or business, at any point, in the previous week because either they or someone in their family was sick with COVID-19.