Health workers of colour face greater virus risk, study finds
Findings highlight problem of structural racism, expert says
Health-care workers of colour were more likely to care for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, more likely to report using inadequate or reused protective gear, and nearly twice as likely as white colleagues to test positive for the coronavirus, a new study from Harvard Medical School researchers found.
The study also showed that health-care workers are at least three times more likely than the general public to report a positive COVID-19 test, with risks rising for workers treating COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Andrew Chan, a senior author and an epidemiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said the study further highlights the problem of structural racism, this time reflected in the front-line roles and personal protective equipment provided to people of colour.
“If you think to yourself, ‘Health-care workers should be on equal footing in the workplace,’ our study really showed that’s definitely not the case,” said Chan, who is also a professor at Harvard Medical School.
The study was based on data from more than two million COVID-19 Symptom Study app users in the U.S. and the United Kingdom from March 24 through April 23. The study, done with researchers from King’s College London, was published in the journal The Lancet Public Health.
The study findings follow other research showing that minority health-care workers are likely to care for minority patients in their own communities, often in facilities with fewer resources, said Dr. Utibe Essien, a physician and core investigator for the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion in the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.
Those workers may also see a higher share of sick patients, as federal data shows minority patients were disproportionately testing positive and being hospitalized with the virus, said Essien, an assistant professor of medicine with the University of Pittsburgh.
“I’m not surprised by these findings,” he said, “but I’m disappointed by the result.”
Dr. Fola May, a UCLA physician and researcher, said the study also reflects the fact that Black and Latino health-care workers may live — or visit family — in minority communities that are hardest-hit by the pandemic because so many work on the front lines of all industries.
The study showed that healthcare workers of colour were five times more likely than the general population to test positive for COVID-19.
Their workplace experience also diverged from that of whites alone. The study found that workers of colour were 20 per cent more likely than white workers to care for suspected or confirmed-positive COVID-19 patients. The rate went up to 30 per cent for Black workers specifically.
Black and Latino people overall have been three times as likely as whites to get the virus, a New York Times analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. (Latinos can be of any race or combination of races.)
Health-care workers of colour were also more likely to report inadequate or reused PPE, at a rate 50 per cent higher than what white workers reported. For Latinos, the rate was double that of white workers.