Occupational risk of COVID-19 in the 1st vs 2nd wave of infection

Abstract

AimTo study whether employees in occupations that typically imply close contact with other people are tested more and at higher risk of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) and related hospitalization, in the 1st and 2nd wave of infection in Norway.MethodsIn all 3 559 694 residents of Norway on January 1st 2020 aged 20-70 (with mean [SD] age 44.1 [14.3] years and 51% men), we studied COVID-19 testing patterns sorted by occupation (using Standard Classification of Occupations [ISCO-08]). We also studied whether selected occupations had a higher risk of 1) confirmed COVID-19 and 2) hospitalization with COVID-19, compared to everyone else aged 20-70 years using logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, testing behavior, and own and maternal country of birth.ResultsOccupations with high frequency of testing (e.g. health personnel and teachers) had a low frequency of positive tests. Nurses, physicians, dentists, physiotherapists, bus/tram and taxi drivers had 1.1-4 times the odds of COVID-19 during the 1st wave, whereas bartenders, waiters, transport conductors and travel stewards had 1.1-3 times the odds of COVID-19 during the 2nd wave (when compared to everyone else). Teachers had moderately increased odds of COVID-19. Occupation may be of limited relevance for hospitalization with the disease.ConclusionStudying the entire Norwegian population using international standardized codes of occupations, our findings may be of relevance to national and regional authorities in handling the pandemic. Also, our findings provide a knowledge foundation for the more targeted future studies of lockdown, testing strategies and disease control measures.