Taxi drivers, bus drivers and security guards most at risk from Covid-19
Security guards, taxi drivers and bus drivers are the professions most at risk from dying from Covid-19, according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
The new figures also revealed that health workers had no increased risk of dying from coronavirus, but that care workers and home carers had “significantly raised rates of death involving COVID-19”.
The ONS data showed that male security guards had the highest rate of deaths involving Covid-19 for any profession, with a death rate of 45.7 deaths per 100,000.
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs have a death rate of 36.4 deaths per 100,000, while bus and coach drivers have a death rate of 26.4 deaths per 100,000.
It comes after mayor of London Sadiq Khan has been criticised by some for not providing enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to bus drivers.
As of 23 April, 29 Transport for London (TfL) workers, including 23 bus drivers, had died from Covid-19.
The i reported last month that some Transport for London (TfL) bus drivers had been forced to purchase their own PPE to protect themselves during the lockdown.
The family of TfL bus driver Mervyn Mally Kennedy, 67, who died from coronavirus blamed a lack of PPE for the death of their loved one.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Kennedy’s daughter Penny Palmer said: “It is people like my dad who are driving the NHS staff and carers to work.
“The changes that have been brought in should have happened much quicker. The lack of equipment and delays has cost lives.”
A spokesperson for Khan said: ““Sadiq is doing absolutely everything he can to keep our heroic bus drivers and other transport workers safe. With this in mind, from today all TfL frontline staff – including bus drivers – are being issued with basic face masks to further help reduce the spread of coronavirus.
“TfL have already put in place an enhanced anti-viral cleaning regime across the network, applied protective film to the Perspex screen of bus driver cabs to seal off holes and prevented passengers sitting next to bus drivers.”
There are clearly issues in the supply of PPE, with hospitals and care homes reporting shortages, but I’ve also asked TfL to look into the availability of PPE stock for transport workers, in case advice from public health experts changes.”
The high rate of deaths from care workers shown in the ONS data also comes after the government has been widely criticised for not protecting care workers from the virus.
There have been reports that many care homes have not had enough PPE for its staff and testing had not been available until recently.
The sector’s watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), has also reported that some hospitals sent patients known to have the coronavirus into care homes, without warning staff.