It says something about the mortality rate of Covid19, and also about the burden on the healthcare sector
According to the CDC, there have been 103,643 cases of Covid-19 in US Healthcare workers of which 543 have died. That makes the death rate per infection a hefty 0.5% among these working age people. Obviously some of these people have co-morbidities, but would be under the retirement age.
We would hope US Healthcare workers are reasonably well tested. They may have a higher death rate because they are subject to a higher viral load and working under long hours in a stressful situation. But they also (presumably) wear PPE and are trained to use it.
An Amnesty International report estimates at least 3,000 health care workers have passed away around the world, with the highest tally from Russia (545) and the UK (540).
Elsewhere, the countries with the highest numbers of health worker deaths are USA (507), Brazil (351), Mexico (248), Italy (188), Egypt (111), Iran (91), Ecuador (82) and Spain (63).
These numbers may be underestimates. The Guardian has a list of US Health care worker deaths, and lists the names 787 frontline workers.
Medscape has a memorial page for over 1,000 doctors, nurses and professors around the world. Not all of them were over 60. It’s not hard to find younger examples:
Óscar Miguel Cabrera, 28, Third-Year Oncology Resident, Internet personality on the YoMedico blog, Hospital Eugenio Espejo, Quito, Ecuador
Karla Dominguez, 33, Registered Nurse, Hospitals of Providence–Memorial Campus, El Paso, Texas
Monica Echeverri Casarez, 49, Michigan, surgical technician, Michigan
Not the flu
People on the frontline must also die of the flu, but the number is small enough that there don’t appear to be lists in memorium. Indeed, papers on occupational deaths of Health Care Workers don’t even mention influenza. About half are likely vaccinated.
Who would want to work like this for months?
It’s easy to assume pandemic decisions play off economic costs against the death tally, but it’s much bigger than that.
While lockdowns are unbearable for some businesses, roaming viruses are unbearable for the health care industry. There is a burden that makes “suppression” unsustainable. It’s not just the medico’s health, but the threat they may post to loved ones. Doctors are writing up wills just in case, and sending their toddler age children to grandparents for extended stays. I’ve spoken to retired doctors who are concerned about being called up if an outbreak stretches medical services. In March, I talked to medical personnel who were having discussions about whether it would be ethical to retire early — they were torn, juggling what they owe patients with what they owe their family. People with high risk partners were living in different parts of their own homes. Many were quietly envious of home lockdowns, commenting that the safety of that sounded appealing.
The only situation that solves both problems at once is “Elimination”. Happy doctors. Happy businesses.
In Australia doctors want to eliminate this virus, not live with it:
Dr Aaron Bloch:
Hundreds of doctors and nurses at Melbourne hospitals have contracted COVID-19 or been quarantined …
“As a frontline doctor in Victoria’s fight against the virus, my view is that the rate of health care worker infection is unsustainable,” quarantined Melbourne doctor Aaron Bloch…
From my own perspective — widely shared by my colleagues — suppression cannot win. Coexisting with COVID-19 means lives lost, repeated lockdown and gripping uncertainty, which will take a giant toll on our collective mental health and undermine the confidence necessary for economic recovery.
Suppression has failed because it underestimates this virus, it overestimates our ability to control it, and it fundamentally misunderstands human nature.
We escaped the initial feared tsunami, but do not underestimate the ongoing physical and emotional toll. Many of us have not had a good night’s sleep in a long time.
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There are a quarter of a million new infections around the world today, and a new study with headlines that claim to have found six different “types” of covid with six clusters of symptoms. These don’t appear to be different viral mutations, so are likely the same virus causing different clusters of symptoms. But that helps identify the higher risk patients earlier. Hope you don’t get the abdominal pain kind with confusion which appears to be the worst sort.
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Photos: Healthcare workers who have been lost — from The Guardian Memorium List.
Beware: the famous Flu death tally is “highly adjusted” and Coronavirus is still 10 times worse