Health workers resemble working-age people in coronavirus infection

A total of 36,650 coronavirus infections were diagnosed in Finland last year. Of the infected, 30,424 were working-age patients and 2,601 were healthcare workers, said the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on Monday.

The statistics means healthcare workers accounted for 8.5% of all cases of working-age people infected with coronavirus in 2020.

According to the statistics from 2019, some 7.4 % of all working-age people worked in health services.

Out of the social welfare and healthcare workers infected with coronavirus, the source of infection remained unknown in 37% of the cases, the person’s workplace was the source of infection in 30% of the cases, the source of infection was another known close contact, such as a family member or a contact in leisure activities in 33 % of the cases,.

‘It may be difficult for healthcare workers, like many other professional groups, to avoid contacts because their work cannot be done remotely. It is, therefore, possible for them to get infected on the way to work, in break rooms, and in customer situations, if hygiene measures are not sufficient,” said THL Chief Physician Tuula Hannila-Handelberg.

In 2020, five per cent of healthcare workers infected with coronavirus needed hospital treatment and 18% ended up in intensive care.

No case where persons working in healthcare have died of COVID-19 have been reported to the THL and Welfare’s National Infectious Diseases Register