Teachers with no increased risk from COVID-19: UK study

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A new study published in the United Kingdom suggests that teachers are not at higher risk of hospitalization than other people as a result of COVID-19 infection.

“We found that teachers and their families were not at increased risk of hospitalization for COVID-19 and were at lower risk for severe COVID-19 compared to adults of otherwise similar working ages. The study concluded.Published in a medical journal BMJ..

Researchers at Public Health Scotland and the University of Glasgow have examined data on the Scottish pandemic from March 2020 to June 2021 and found that the risk of hospitalization with COVID-19 is higher among teachers than adults of other working ages. I didn’t find any evidence that it was expensive. General population.

The results “are likely to be broadly reassuring to those involved in face-to-face education,” said David McAllister, a professor of clinical epidemiology and medical informatics at the University of Glasgow and author of the study.

Researchers found that teachers were at lower risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19 than adults of other working ages when Scottish schools were largely closed.

Studies show that when schools were fully opened, teacher risk was similar to that of other working-age populations.

However, researchers suggested that teachers may be generally healthier or more careful about COVID-19-related behaviors than other occupational groups.

Most of the teachers in this study were women with little underlying health (mean age 42 years).

Researchers also suspected that vaccination might have contributed to their protection during times when delta mutations were common.

According to the survey, the findings were robust against adjustments to age, gender, socio-economic deprivation, geography, race / ethnicity, household composition, and the number of comorbidities.

Public Health Scotland is currently considering repeating this study for early learning and child care staff.

The Scottish school returned two weeks ago and the reopening is believed to have contributed to the increase in the number of cases.

Schools in Northern Ireland have also reopened, and students in the UK and Wales are beginning to return to the classroom this week after summer vacation.

UK unions have warned that mitigation of COVID-19 safety measures could lead to increased infections in schools.

But UK Secretary of Education Gavin Williamson said Thursday that he would “move heaven and earth” to avoid closing the school again.

PA contributed to this report.

Alexander Chan

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