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School staff not at higher risk of death from COVID-19 than other occupations, study finds

Press release issued: 24 November 2021

Primary and secondary school staff were not at greater risk of death from COVID-19 in 2020 compared to other professions in England and Wales, new research has found. The study, by researchers at the University of Bristol, analysed data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) national death register for school staff and working adults aged between 20- to 64-years-old.

The aim of the study, published today [24 November] in BMJ Open, was to estimate occupational risk from COVID-19 among school staff – teachers, teaching and lunchtime assistants - using ONS mortality data from England and Wales between 8 March to 28 December 2020.

The ONS regularly collects mortality data for people living in England and Wales and publicly releases data on deaths by occupation from COVID-19 and all other causes. The researchers used this data to compare mortality risk among school staff and working aged adults in England and Wales. Mortality rates among teachers were also compared to all professionals because due to socioeconomic factors there are large differences in mortality risk by occupation.

The researchers found across occupational groups there was a strong correlation between COVID-19 mortality and non-COVID-19 mortality. The mortality rates for deaths with COVID-19 were low among people working in schools (ten per 100,000 in female primary school teachers to 39 per 100,000 in male secondary school teachers) compared to many other occupations (nine to 50 per 100,000 in women; from ten to 143 per 100,000 in men).

Read the full University of Bristol press release

Paper

'Was the risk of death among the population of teachers and other school workers in England and Wales due to Covid-19 and all causes higher than other occupations during the pandemic in 2020? An ecological study using routinely collected data on deaths from the Office for National Statistics' by Sarah J Lewis, Kyle Dack, Caroline L Relton, Marcus R Munafò and George Davey Smith in BMJ Open [open access]

Further information

About the Bristol UNCOVER group
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, researchers at the University of Bristol formed the Bristol COVID Emergency Research (UNCOVER) Group to pool resources, capacities, and research efforts to combat this infection.

Bristol UNCOVER includes clinicians, immunologists, virologists, synthetic biologists, aerosol scientists, epidemiologists and mathematical modellers and has links to behavioural and social scientists, ethicists and lawyers and is supported by a large number of junior academic and administrative colleagues.

Follow Bristol UNCOVER on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/BristolUncover

For more information about the University of Bristol's coronavirus (COVID-19) research priorities visit: www.bristol.ac.uk/research/impact/coronavirus/research-priorities/

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Bristol's researchers are part of a global network of scientists responding urgently to the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. 

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