Areas with more essential workers may have higher rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths.
A new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Toronto examined Toronto from January 2020 to January 2021 and found that cases were 3 times higher and deaths 2.5 times higher in those neighborhoods with the highest concentration of essential workers.
Neighborhoods with the highest concentration of essential workers bear a disproportionate risk of COVID-19, according to the study.
RACE AND ETHNICITY MAY BE DECIDING FACTORS IN ESSENTIAL WORKERS GETTING VACCINE PRIORITIZATION
Essential workers included employees in health, trades, transport, equipment, manufacturing, utilities, sales, services, and agriculture.
According to the study, the results “suggest that the population who continued to serve the essential needs of society throughout COVID-19 shouldered a disproportionate burden of transmission and deaths.”
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This follows a recent Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality study of essential workers in the United States that found essential workers faced a nearly 50% increase of severe COVID-19.
