Healthcare Workers at Significant COVID-19 Risk
Healthcare Workers at Significant COVID-19 Risk
On October 26, 2020, the Center for Disease Control, CDC, reported that for the period March 1st to May 31st, 2020.
- 6% of COVID-19 hospital admissions in the US consisted of healthcare workers.
- 28% of these healthcare workers were admitted to the ICU.
- 16% required invasive ventilation.
- 4% of hospitalized healthcare workers died.
Female healthcare workers were affected the most:
- 72% of healthcare workers admitted with COVID-19 were female.
- Over 36% were nursing-related workers, including 27% nurses and 9% certified nursing assistants.
- Of females 18-49 years old, 10% were pregnant.
Link: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6943e3.htm
This risk to healthcare workers was also confirmed worldwide:
Among hospital admissions for COVID-19 reported to the World Health Organization, healthcare workers made up 1 in 7 or 14%. This number is significant because healthcare workers make up 3% of the world’s population.
More than 1,000 nurses have died after contracting the virus, the International Council of Nurses, a Geneva-based association, said in a statement.
In the United Kingdom, healthcare workers also accounted for 1 in 6 hospital admissions for COVID-19. The risk of hospitalization for COVID-19 was 3-fold higher in healthcare workers and 2-fold higher in their household members, compared with the general population. These numbers are based on data collected from 155,445 healthcare workers and 229,905 household members.
Link: BMJ 2020;371:m3582 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3582 (Published 28 October 2020)
On November 9, 2020, a CDC advisory stated that Nurses and Healthcare workers should get first access to COVID-19 vaccination doses.
Link: https://nurse.org/articles/nurses-healthcare-workers-get-first-covid-vaccine/
Other vulnerable groups suited for early vaccination are:
- Workers in essential and critical industries
- People at high risk for severe COVID-19 illness due to underlying medical conditions
- People 65 years and older
Link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations-process.html
Measuring immunity to the COVID-19 coronavirus can also be useful for healthcare workers and other vulnerable groups who await vaccination.
Those workers who have contacted the virus in the course of their work, but have not experienced symptoms can benefit from knowing whether they already have antibodies to the virus.
Novel tests of immunity that can be present in a type of lymphocyte called the T-lymphocyte may also be useful, especially in those individuals who may have never been exposed to the COVID-19 coronavirus. These T-cells have been trained by prior contact with other human coronaviruses, which account for 15% of seasonal flu-like illnesses in adults. To learn more about these types of immunity testing please visit https://plexision.com/covid-19/plexcovid-19