COVID-19 cases among US health care workers top 62,000

May 27, 2020May 27, 2020 The Big Kahuna

Halfpoint/iStock(NEW YORK) — Of the 1.68 million people the U.S. infected with COVID-19, at least 62,000 of them are doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. That’s according to data just released by the Centers for Disease Control a Prevention. At least 291 health care workers have died.

The number of infected health care workers may actually be significantly higher: The CDC reports fewer than 25% of the 1.3 million people whose data the CDC analyzed disclosed whether they worked in the health care industry. Further, the death status was available for only about 57% of the 62,344 COVID-19 cases among U.S. health care workers.

The number of cases of COVID-19 reported among U.S. health care workers six weeks ago was 9,282, with the median age of infected workers 42, nearly 75% of which were women. Compared to that 9,282 figure, the current number of infected health care workers represents a nearly 84% increase, although that may be attributable at least in part to data collection inconsistencies rather than an actual infection spike.

Although most infected health care workers weren’t hospitalized for the disease, severe outcomes — including death — were reported among all age groups. That information wasn’t made available in the CDC’s latest report.