Covid-19: Recognise long covid as occupational disease and compensate frontline workers, say MPs

Limb, Matthew

doi:10.1136/bmj.n503

Cited by 9 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…COVID‐19 is the first new occupational disease to be described in the past decade, 106,107 with HCWs at risk 108 . There have also been suggestions that post‐COVID‐19 syndrome should be recognized as an occupational disease 108 .…”

Section: Policies and Practices To Prevent Covid‐19 Infection In Hcwsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…COVID-19 is the first new occupational disease to be described in the past decade, 106,107 with HCWs at risk. 108 There have also been suggestions that post-COVID-19 syndrome should be recognized as an occupational disease. 108 The public health principles of physical distancing, cough etiquette and hand washing proved difficult in practice to prevent worldwide transmission of COVID-19 and this difficulty increased with the emergence of the Delta variant with its increased transmissibility.…”

Section: Policies and Practices To Prevent Covid-19 Infection In Hcwsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…108 There have also been suggestions that post-COVID-19 syndrome should be recognized as an occupational disease. 108 The public health principles of physical distancing, cough etiquette and hand washing proved difficult in practice to prevent worldwide transmission of COVID-19 and this difficulty increased with the emergence of the Delta variant with its increased transmissibility. Test, trace, isolate and quarantine interventions have only been partially effective in preventing the rapid spread of COVID-19 throughout the world, mainly because transmission occurs in asymptomatic individuals.…”

Section: Policies and Practices To Prevent Covid-19 Infection In Hcwsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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COVID‐19 infection and the broader impacts of the pandemic on healthcare workers

et al. 2022

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The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) disease or COVID‐19 pandemic is associated with more than 230 million cases and has challenged healthcare systems globally. Many healthcare workers (HCWs) have acquired the infection, often through their workplace, with a significant number dying. The epidemiology of COVID‐19 infection in HCWs continues to be explored, with manifold exposure risks identified, leading to COVID‐19 being recognised as an occupational disease for HCWs. The physical illness due to COVID‐19 in HCWs is similar to the general population, with some HCWs experiencing a long‐term illness, which may impact their ability to return to work. HCWs have also been affected by the immense workplace and psychosocial disruption caused by the pandemic. The impacts on the psychological well‐being of HCWs globally have been profound, with high prevalence estimates for mental health symptoms, including emotional exhaustion. Globally, governments, healthcare organisations and employers have key responsibilities, including: to be better prepared for crises with comprehensive disaster response management plans, and to protect and preserve the health workforce from the physical and psychological impacts of the pandemic. While prioritising HCWs in vaccine rollouts globally has been critical, managing exposures and outbreaks occurring in healthcare settings remains challenging and continues to lead to substantial disruption to the health workforce. Safeguarding healthcare workforces during crises is critical as we move forward on the new path of ‘COVID normal’.

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Section: Policies and Practices To Prevent Covid‐19 Infection In Hcwsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Policies and Practices To Prevent Covid-19 Infection In Hcwsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Policies and Practices To Prevent Covid-19 Infection In Hcwsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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COVID‐19 infection and the broader impacts of the pandemic on healthcare workers

et al. 2022

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“…The need to protect workers from COVID-19 is an ongoing issue and is likely to be so for some time. There is much debate around the degree to which SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs in the workplace and which occupations are most affected, with calls for COVID-19and subsequent long term symptoms and disability (long-COVID) to be classified as an occupational disease (1, 2). Hence, it is important that we better understand occupational risks in order to inform policy and practice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupational differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection: Analysis of the UK ONS Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey

Rhodes

Pearce

Mueller

et al. 2022

Preprint

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BackgroundConsiderable concern remains about how occupational SARS-CoV-2 risk has evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to ascertain which occupations had the greatest risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and explore how relative differences varied over the pandemic.MethodsAnalysis of cohort data from the UK Office of National Statistics Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey from April 2020 to November 2021. This survey is designed to be representative of the UK population and uses regular PCR testing. Cox and multilevel logistic regression to compare SARS-CoV-2 infection between occupational/sector groups, overall and by four time periods with interactions, adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation, region, household size, urban/rural neighbourhood and current health conditions.ResultsBased on 3,910,311 observations from 312,304 working age adults, elevated risks of infection can be seen overall for social care (HR 1.14; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.24), education (HR 1.31; 95% CI 1.23 to 1.39), bus and coach drivers (1.43; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.97) and police and protective services (HR 1.45; 95% CI 1.29 to 1.62) when compared to non-essential workers. By time period, relative differences were more pronounced early in the pandemic. For healthcare elevated odds in the early waves switched to a reduction in the later stages. Education saw raises after the initial lockdown and this has persisted. Adjustment for covariates made very little difference to effect estimates.ConclusionsElevated risks among healthcare workers have diminished over time but education workers have had persistently higher risks. Long-term mitigation measures in certain workplaces may be warranted.What is already known on this topicSome occupational groups have observed increased rates of disease and mortality relating to COVID-19.What this study addsRelative differences between occupational groups have varied during different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic with risks for healthcare workers diminishing over time and workers in the education sector seeing persistent elevated risks.How this study might affect research, practice or policyIncreased long term mitigation such as ventilation should be considered in sectors with a persistent elevated risk. It is important for workplace policy to be responsive to evolving pandemic risks.

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“…The UK government should now quickly prescribe occupational covid-19 to “level up” care and support for workers. Other European countries already list covid-19 as an occupational disease 456. IIAC is still examining the evidence.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Failure to prescribe: UK workers with occupational long covid-19 have been ignored

Watterson

2021

BMJ

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Covid-19: Recognise long covid as occupational disease and compensate frontline workers, say MPs

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

COVID‐19 infection and the broader impacts of the pandemic on healthcare workers

COVID‐19 infection and the broader impacts of the pandemic on healthcare workers

Occupational differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection: Analysis of the UK ONS Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey

Failure to prescribe: UK workers with occupational long covid-19 have been ignored

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