5 Jobs Most At Risk Of Coronavirus: Why Healthcare Workers Get Sicker Than Others?

Among those who have to be in contact with coronavirus due to professional reasons, it seems that healthcare workers are more at risk of contracting this dangerous disease, study shows. The reason for this is still unconfirmed.

Besides healthcare workers, we will also list 5 other jobs most at risk of coronavirus, based on their work nature.

Dr. Peter Hotez, National School of Tropical Medicine’s professor and dean, shared during his appearance on CNN that while the high death rate in older people is already known, healthcare workers in the front line are also at great risk to contract the virus even though they belong to the younger age group.

That healthcare workers fall ill is “nothing more than destabilizing”, according to Hotez, and he also said they will try to identify what makes them sicker compared to other patients.

As per reports, there are two doctors in the U.S suffering from COVID-19 and the one in his 40s was sent to the hospital with upper respiratory issues. On Saturday, he was isolated in an intensive care unit.

It was unclear if this Washington-based doctor contracted coronavirus via community or work spread. However, he was reported to have followed all the relevant protocols.

Meanwhile, Dr. Li Wenliang – a physician from Wuhan Central Hospital who was considered a hero for attempting to forewarn people about coronavirus – died within weeks of being infected.

After sounding the alarm to his classmates about the possible novel coronavirus in December, the whistleblower passed away from the virus itself on February 7.

At that period, China had around 31,000 cases. The number now stands at nearly 220,ooo cases worldwide.

>>> Coronavirus Doctor Dies: The Last Fight Of Li Wenliang, nCoV Whistleblower

As to the reason why medical workers seem to be more at risk of the novel coronavirus, experts hypothesized that maybe it was because of the higher virus doses that they were receiving.

Los Angeles Times also reported that healthcare workers such as nurses, therapists, general practitioners are those who have close contacts with other people in their work which increases the infecting threat. More than 3,000 healthcare staff in China have been diagnosed with corona and this situation can happen in the US.

These are other groups of jobs most at risk of coronavirus:

Firefighters, lifeguards, ambulance drivers, emergency medical personnel, police officers are also in the front line of the outbreak. They are all at risk for infection because of close contact with patients, according to O*NET.

Waiters, cashiers, and delivery workers also face serious impacts from the coronavirus outbreak. In addition, according to O*NET, sports coaches, manicurists or barbers all have close contact with many customers and bear great risk of being contracted.

Companies around the world are taking steps to prevent coronavirus, including encouraging employees to work from home. However, not all jobs can be so flexible. According to Marissa Baker, an assistant professor at the Washington School of Health & Environmental Science, many workers do not get paid if they stay home, so it is difficult for them to make a choice. The jobs in the service industry or the factory workers are staggering because of Covid-19.

Airplanes are confined spaces for passengers and crew members, so flight attendants and pilots are on the list of occupations at high risk of getting the disease. The aviation industry also plunged because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Moreover, O*NET said choreographers, dancers, actors, and singers also have to have close contact with colleagues and a large audience. Therefore, they have a high risk of being infected.

In our opinion, whichever job you have, whether it is among the jobs most at risk of coronavirus or not, make sure to be cautious and careful in order to protect yourself as well as your loved ones.