Local/CBS SF)-A study by the University of California, San Francisco on the occupations with the highest risk of dying from VIDOC-19 shows that line cooks, machine operators, farm workers, bakers and construction workers top the list.
The study examined occupations associated with high mortality during the pandemic, with particular emphasis on racial and ethnic groups disproportionately affected by VIDOC-19. According to the study, critical personal work is a likely site of contamination and should be addressed with strict adherence to health and hygiene regulations on working conditions and worker protection.
The researchers estimated the excess mortality of Californians between the ages of 18 and 65 by occupation and profession. Since the beginning of the pandemic, deaths among working-age adults have historically increased by 22%. However, during the pandemic, there was a 39% increase in excess mortality among workers in the food and agricultural sectors, the highest of any sector.
In addition, the number of deaths among Spaniards increased by 36% and the number of deaths among those working in agriculture or the food industry increased by 59%. Deaths among black Californians increased 28% and deaths among black retail workers increased 36%. While the number of deaths among Californians in Asia increased by 18%, the number of Asian health care workers increased by 40%.
By comparison, the excess mortality rate among white working-age Californians increased by 6% during the pandemic and by 16% among white agricultural and food workers.
Researchers have found that Latinos, blacks, and people with low levels of education face particular occupational risks because they are disproportionately part of the state’s core workforce and because workers in this core group are often unable to work from home. As a result of historical structural inequalities, the working poor are also more likely to live in overcrowded housing, resulting in a household transfer.
Essential personal workers are unique in that they are not protected by local housing policy. Indeed, our study shows that the excess mortality in the agri-food sector increased sharply during the first government protection, from late March to May; no such increase was observed in the non-essential sectors. Additional measures are needed to protect those who cannot work from home, the study authors write.
These measures can and should include free personal protective equipment, clearly defined and strictly enforced safety protocols, easily accessible testing, generous hospital policies, and appropriate responses to workplace safety violations.
The study shows that priority should be given to key workers in vaccine distribution schedules to reduce excess mortality due to IDVOC.
Earlier this week, California announced a series of changes to the COVID-19 vaccine delivery system to give the state more control over speeding up immunization, after studies showed the state lagged behind all other states in vaccine delivery.
Last week, Bloomberg’s COVID vaccination program revealed that California ranks last in the percentage of vaccines administered: only 37% of vaccines administered were injectable. While California administered more than 1.6 million doses of vaccine – the largest number of any state – it received about 4.4 million doses, according to the tracker.
UCSF researchers said their analysis is one of the first to identify significant non-health-related personal work as a predictor of pandemic-related mortality.
Closure measures, by definition, do not protect key workers and must be supplemented by workplace changes and priority distribution of vaccines, the authors said. If these workers are truly important, we must take swift and decisive action to treat their lives as such.
Related Tags:
covid-19, michigan cases by age group, michigan coronavirus cases by day, wdiv coronavirus stats, detroit covid data, covid-19, michigan local 4, covid-19, michigan wdiv, clickondetroit.com covid vaccine, click on detroit covid data
verifiedtasks
admin
