Bus drivers had double the risk of needing hospital care for severe covid-19 during the pandemic, compared to occupational groups that did not have close contact with other people.
This is shown by a new study from the University of Gothenburg.
Bus and tram drivers had a 98 percent increased risk of getting serious covid-19 during the later stages of the pandemic, the study shows. Other occupational groups that have a lot of contact with people, for example staff at leisure centers and nurses, were also found to have an increased risk.
The researchers emphasize, however, that the individual risk for individual employees within a certain occupation was still very small, as the number of affected people in the occupational groups was small.
The study included 552,562 cases of confirmed covid-19 and 5,985 cases of severe covid-19, based on hospital admissions from October 2020 to December 2021.
“We know that vaccination protects against severe covid-19 and we believe that vaccination in high-risk workplaces during working hours would further reduce the risks. This mainly applies, for example, to bus and tram drivers and preschool staff. Healthcare staff were often offered vaccination during working hours, but perhaps additional measures could have increase vaccination coverage,” says Maria Åberg, professor of general medicine at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, in a press release.
The study is published in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health.