A study published in the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology in 2023 examines occupational differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection risk in England and Wales, using data from the Virus Watch cohort study. After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, health-related factors, and non-work public activities, the study found persistent occupational differences in infection risk.
Workers in healthcare, teaching, education and childcare, social care and community protective services, and leisure and personal service occupations showed elevated overall infection risk compared to professional and associate occupations. The study found that belonging to these higher-risk occupations accounted for 13% to 25% of their infection risk.
Most at-risk occupations showed elevated risk in the earlier pandemic phase, which later attenuated for most groups. However, teaching, education, and childcare occupations maintained elevated risk throughout all phases, and healthcare workers also had elevated risk in Wave 4. Among specific frontline occupations, primary school teachers had the highest risk, with their occupation accounting for 40% of their infection risk.
The study suggests that occupation shapes SARS-CoV-2 exposure by influencing factors such as the ability to work from home, practice social distancing, work in well-ventilated environments, and access appropriate personal protective equipment. The changing patterns of risk across pandemic phases are attributed to factors like immunity from prior infection or vaccination, removal of public health restrictions, and the emergence of new variants.
The study’s strengths include a large, diverse cohort, use of multiple data sources, and adjustment for comprehensive confounders. However, limitations include potential residual confounding, challenges in measuring certain factors accurately, and small subsample sizes for some occupations.
The findings highlight the importance of work as a source of infection risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study recommends ongoing interventions for persistently high-risk occupations like teaching, and further investigation into the mechanisms underlying differential risk to inform evidence-based public health interventions in the workplace.
The full study can be read here.
Durham County Department of Public Health have produced a great video demonstrating that covid and many other viruses are airborne. The video is less than two minutes long. An airborne virus is a virus that can infect other people through particles in the air, sometimes for hours after the sick person has left the area! […]
This narrative review shows that POTS, ME/CFS and Long COVID are closely related conditions that share common biological mechanisms. The authors explain that problems with the autonomic nervous system, immune dysregulation and autoimmunity, mitochondrial dysfunction, reduced blood flow to the brain, and neuroinflammation all play a role. POTS and ME/CFS are identified as the most […]
Summary: Comparing Long Covid symptoms between patients that received COVID-19 vaccinations and those that did not. Study by Pasculli et. al., (2025) summarised by Amanda Harrington-Vail Introduction Since the COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared, almost 780 million cases and nearly 7 million deaths have been reported worldwide. Although COVID-19 vaccination has reduced the risk of […]
