HEALTH WARNING
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HEALTH WARNING
We are no longer updating our Covid-19 hub regularly. That includes this page. Click here for the latest.
Covid-19: the killer in the workplace
26/01/21 .
News
Among people of working age, men are twice as likely to die of Covid-19 as women.
Of the 7,961 deaths involving Covid-19 in the working age population (people aged 20 to 64 years) of England and Wales in 2020, nearly two-thirds were among men (5,128).
The ONS report on Covid deaths in 2020 by occupation shows that men in low-skilled jobs, in the care sector or in other service jobs were most at risk. They were more than three times as likely to die from Covid as professionals.
The largest single group of casualties was female care workers and home carers. But even amongst professions of this sort - in which women dominate - men were far more likely to die.
There were 190 deaths of male health care workers compared to 224 female deaths. However, if we look at the death rates (age-standardised per 100,000 people), the rate was 44.9 for male health care workers compared to 17.3 for female ones. In other words, male health care workers were more than two and half times more likely to die. Among social care workers, the rates were 79 for men and 35.9 for women meaning men were more than twice as likely to die. Among health professionals, the rates were 23.9 for men and 8.4 for women meaning male doctors, for example, were three times more likely to die. Among nursing professionals the rates were 79.1 (men) and 24.7 (women).
Dangerous driving
The most dangerous occupation for men is driving. There were over 500 deaths in drivers (including 209 taxi drivers, 118 good vehicles drivers, 97 van drivers and 83 bus drivers). In other words, more than 10% of Covid deaths in men of working age were in drivers.
As the table below shows, 20 jobs saw more than 50 male deaths. Many of them involve working in confined spaces indoors for long periods with contact with others - security guard, care worker, chef, postal worker.
They’re also jobs characterised by low pay, poor job security or no security at all. These figures, like the Covid pandemic generally, highlight massive inequalities in health outcomes but it hasn’t created them. In 2021 in a wealthy country like the UK, the people taking the biggest risks to keep the show on the road are those getting the least reward. Clapping is nice; change is better.
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The Men’s Health Forum need your support It’s tough for men to ask for help but if you don’t ask when you need it, things generally only get worse. So we’re asking. In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65. If we had health policies and services that better reflected the needs of the whole population, it might not be like that. But it is. Policies and services and indeed men have been like this for a long time and they don’t change overnight just because we want them to. It’s true that the UK’s men don’t have it bad compared to some other groups. We’re not asking you to ‘feel sorry’ for men or put them first. We’re talking here about something more complicated, something that falls outside the traditional charity fund-raising model of ‘doing something for those less fortunate than ourselves’. That model raises money but it seldom changes much. We’re talking about changing the way we look at the world. There is nothing inevitable about premature male death. Services accessible to all, a population better informed. These would benefit everyone - rich and poor, young and old, male and female - and that’s what we’re campaigning for. We’re not asking you to look at images of pity, we’re just asking you to look around at the society you live in, at the men you know and at the families with sons, fathers and grandads missing. Here’s our fund-raising page - please chip in if you can.
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