Healthcare workers of color were more likely to care for patients with suspected or confirmed Covid-19, more likely to report inadequate or reused protective gear and nearly twice as likely as white colleagues to test positive for the coronavirus, according to a new study from Harvard Medical School.
The study also showed that healthcare workers of color were five times more likely than the general public to test positive for Covid-19.
Dr Andrew Chan, a senior author and an epidemiologist at Massachusetts general hospital, said the study further highlights the problem of structural racism in the face of the pandemic.
“If you think to yourself, ‘Healthcare 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 2m Covid Symptom Study app users in the US and the UK from 24 March through 23 April. The study, done with researchers from King’s College London, was published in the Lancet.
Lost on the Frontline, a project by KHN (Kaiser Health News) and the Guardian, has published profiles of 164 healthcare workers who died of Covid-19 and identified more than 900 who reportedly fell victim to the disease. An analysis of the stories showed that 62% of the healthcare workers who died were people of color.
They include Roger Liddell, 64, a black hospital supply manager in Michigan, who sought but was denied an N95 respirator when his work required him to go into Covid-positive patients’ rooms, according to his labor union. Sandra Oldfield, 53, a Latina nurse, worked at a California hospital where workers sought N95s as well. She was wearing a less protective surgical mask when she cared for a Covid-positive patient before she got the virus and died.
The study’s findings follow other research showing that minority healthcare 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 Latinx healthcare workers may live – or visit family – in minority communities that are hardest hit by the pandemic because so many work on the frontlines of all industries.
Black and Latinx people overall have been three times as likely as their white counterparts to become infected with the virus, a New York Times analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows.
The Harvard study also found that workers of color were 20% more likely than white workers to care for suspected or confirmed positive Covid patients. The rate went up to 30% for black workers specifically. Healthcare workers of color also reported inadequate or reused PPE at a rate 50% higher than what white workers reported. For Latinx people, the rate was double that of white workers.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.