COVID-19 and occupation: position paper 48

A significantly increased risk that was more than doubled remained after full adjustment for female taxi/cab drivers and chauffeurs; the risk for male taxi/cab drivers was also significantly increased after full adjustment but not doubled Appendix Table 11. Almost all studies showed variations in seropositivity rates by staff role or location within the hospital. In general, those with clinical roles had higher rates of seropositivity than those in non-clinical roles with the exception of work in intensive care units where rates were relatively low.

More information on outbreaks is also expected to become available. IIAC are in contact with some of the research groups involved in this work and will continue to monitor the literature for future published reports and papers. IIAC expects to carry out a further review of this issue in the near future. Together these have been described as Post-COVID Syndrome or Long Covid. Currently, understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of the key symptoms of Post-COVID Syndrome is limited, as is the ability to measure and diagnose the condition objectively. IIAC therefore considered that there was insufficient evidence at present to recommend prescription for this syndrome.

Results last for more than 12 months

The Council therefore feels that there is sufficient evidence to recommend prescription for these workers. Although there is some evidence of increased risk of infection and mortality in some other occupations there are fewer studies and findings tend to be less consistent. At this current time IIAC has therefore concluded that the evidence is not of sufficient quantity and quality to recommend prescription for these occupations. This Command paper documents the detailed and extensive evaluation of the evidence and sets out how the Council has arrived at its conclusions.

• In addition, patients requiring periods of intense medical treatment are at risk of a post-ICU syndrome, comprising a range of physical, cognitive and psychological impairments which persist after discharge from Intensive Care.
• So et al., (2021) carried out a meta-analysis of 13 studies involving 1,232 patients.
• Those requiring hospital admission were more likely to have prolonged symptoms (8.6% of those reporting symptoms at ≥12 weeks were hospitalised compared with 7.9% at ≥5 weeks).
• Indicates how large is the prevalence of an event/outcome in one group of subjects (with characteristics/attribute) relative to another group (without the characteristics/attributes).

Luo et al (2022) showed similar findings in a meta-analysis of 10 studies with 26,691 subjects with COVID-19 and 280 with ischaemic strokes. The pooled prevalence of ischaemic stroke was 2% (95% CI 1–2%). Overall, in 2020, healthcare workers had the highest excess mortality, (13.3%) of all occupations compared with non-essential workers and those unemployed; excess mortality was 7.7% for social care workers.

Individual Behaviour and Transmission Risks

Hospital work was particularly affected with both clinical and non-clinical staff being redeployed to cope with the large number of patients admitted with COVID-19. Redeployment also occurred in the retail sector to cope with increased use of online purchasing and resulting delivery requirements. Studies of the effectiveness of respiratory protection https://lokalgastrobar.com/2023/12/08/the-surprising-effects-of-nandrolone-new-study/ have demonstrated that the range of effectiveness of respirators in reducing average exposure is similar to that of engineering systems. Based on experimental research on non-viral aerosols the mean efficacy of surgical masks could be around 65% and for filtering facepiece respirators around 95% (Cherrie et al., 2018; Steinle et al., 2018).

• Similarly, much more work is required on which symptoms in which patients lead to which functional impairments.
• The IM use of diazepam injection can lead to a rise in serum creatinine phosphokinase activity, with a maximum level occurring between 12 and 24 hours after injection.
• During 2021 much more evidence relating to morbidity of workers became available including data on the risks of infection, severe disease and hospitalisation within different occupations.

An official source of data regarding the burden of work related COVID-19 in Great Britain arises from the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR)[footnote 3]. RIDDOR requires employers, and other people in charge of work premises, to report (amongst other things) cases of any disease in workers where there was ‘reasonable’ evidence to suggest that it was caused by occupational exposure, including a biological agent. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been collating and periodically publishing these data in relation to cases of COVID-19 from early in the pandemic. The usual place of work in many occupations changed during the pandemic compared pre-pandemic, particularly with regard to working outside the home; this varied considerably by major SOC-code groups. Hybrid working also occurred with a mixture of working in and away from home; this varied between industry.

So et al., (2021) carried out a meta-analysis of 13 studies involving 1,232 patients. Lung abnormalities were present on CT scans after an average follow-up period of 3 months in 56% of subjects (95% CI 41%–70%). 44% were categorised as ground glass change and 11% as interstitial thickening or interlobular septal thickening. Vijayakumar et al., (2022) also reported that 56% of patients (41/73) had abnormal CT scans at 3 months following hospital discharge. Huang et al., (2021).

Specially designed for needle-free injection of hyaluronic acid

Also found that 53% of CT scans (186/348) remained abnormal six months after hospital admission. Again, ground glass shadowing was the commonest abnormality affecting 44% of subjects. Huang et al., also found that 53% of CT scans remained abnormal. A variety of other abnormalities were reported including interlobular septal thickening, reticular abnormalities, ‘irregular lines’, and consolidation. Thus, the commonest features are persisting ground glass shadowing, and reticular shadowing or other features suggestive of diffuse lung fibrosis. Similar findings in food processing have been reported in several countries including the UK, described in a narrative review by Gaitens et al., (2021).

See local guidance on drug treatment of Parkinson’s Disease and shared care guideline. Solution, concentrated solution, capsules, 12 hourly modified release tablets. Pain team/palliative care initiation. Oxycodone is included only for patients where morphine is contra-indicated or not tolerated.

Modes of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 are becoming better understood. In common with other respiratory infections, the transmission route involves transfer of the virus from an infected person to the recipient, predominantly through the respiratory tract. At the start of the pandemic the prevailing authoritative opinion stressed the potential risk from contact with contaminated surfaces (fomites), and inhalation of relatively large infective droplets. More recent evidence suggests that transmission from surfaces is less important and that droplet transmission is feasible only when individuals are in close proximity (SAGE-EMG, 2020a). The main route is airborne transmission through inhalation of aerosols (very fine particles suspended in air), which can be transmitted indoors over distances of several metres (Meyerowitz et al,. 2021; Stadnytskyi et al., 2021).