Doctors and nurses do not have a higher coronavirus (Covid-19) mortality rate than others of the same age and sex, suggests new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
However, those in social care, including care workers and home carers, have substantially higher death rates than others within the working population.
The ONS has carried out a provisional analysis of Covid-19 deaths by occupation, including data for people who were aged 20-64, registered up until 20 April.
The report said: ‘Among healthcare workers, rates of death involving COVID-19 were not found to be statistically different to rates of death involving Covid-19 in the general working population, with 10.2 deaths per 100,000 males (43 deaths) and 4.8 deaths per 100,000 females (63 deaths).’
Meanwhile, among social care workers, there were 23.4 deaths per 100,000 (45 deaths) of males and 9.6 deaths per 100,000 females (86 deaths).
Commenting on the data, the report said: ‘Healthcare workers such as nurses and dental practitioners unsurprisingly both involve being exposed to disease on a daily basis, and they require close contact with others, though during the pandemic they are more likely to be using PPE.’
